Just Trust Me
by SeeminglyCaptivating
Summary: With Lotor joining up with Voltron, the team dynamics have changed. Suspicions are raised. It becomes too much for Keith who goes back to the Blade. After Lance's promise to look after the team, things go wrong when he discovers project Kuron. The two must figure things out before it's too late. Set after Season 4. Slowburn Klance.
1. Prologue

Keith did not like this turn of events.

Sure, it meant that he was still alive. Obviously that was a plus, but at what cost? He looked at the purple-skinned alien in front of him, definitely not happy.

Lotor had been compliant, he'd let Keith handcuff him at least. It had all been too easy. The castle flew down to pick both of them up, he'd escorted Lotor up the bridge, and now Lotor was sitting calmly in a chair while the Keith and the paladins stood around him glowering.

Lotor winked at Lance, who responded with a grimace and by moving his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

No, Keith did not like this turn of events at all.

Lotor sighed and looked up at the people surrounding him. "Let me explain."

"I've heard enough." Keith hadn't meant to blurt it out, but he was angry.

Shiro sighed, trying to take control of the situation. "Keith! Let him talk."

"No! I mean...he's attacked us-hurt people-we've been hunting him for months...he's up to something." Keith finished lamely.

Shiro was clearly not happy. "Keith. He might be our chance to change the tides of this war, we need to hear him out."

Allura chimed in. "Shiro's right, there's no harm in just letting him speak to us, if we don't like what he says then we can figure something else out."

The other paladins were silent. Keith looked at Lance, not sure what he was hoping for, but Lance was looking at the ground ignoring the conversation.

"Fine."

Keith crossed his arms. He wasn't a paladin and Shiro didn't have much reason anymore to take his opinion to heart. _Maybe I shouldn't even be here._

Lotor continued seamlessly, as though Keith had never interrupted him in the first place. "I know that there've been some difficult times between us, but I'm hopeful we can put those in the past. I know I can provide you with a wealth of information on my father and on the empire."

Keith didn't say anything, but he was glowering at Lotor. _As though he knows anything that Pidge and Hunk and Matt can't figure out._

"I'm not interested in the empire or in taking control. Nor am I fond of my father. I have little interest in him except to take my revenge on him for ordering my murder." Lotor whipped his head so that his hair flipped out of his face. It was his only option at the moment since his hands were tied.

 _Is he kidding us with this routine. Surely everyone else can see through this act. He just wants to steal Voltron or something._ Keith glanced at the others. The rest of the Paladins were listening intently. Even Lance was paying more attention than usual, although he was still pointedly staring at the floor. The only indication he was paying attention was how silent he was.

"I want to change the way my people are viewed in the universe. My father has forced the Galra to commit heinous crimes. I want to redeem my people." Lotor looked directly at Allura as he said this, pleading with his eyes for her to understand where he was coming from.

Keith could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes. _Here's the part where he says he wants nothing in return, because he's just such a good guy. Total gar-_

"I only want one thing in return...Voltron."

Keith's mouth dropped open. He had not been expecting that. Everyone's faces looked surprised. Even Lance looked up from the ground

"I am not talking about today. I'm talking about after this war is over. My father has used his power to destroy the good in the universe. He's sick and evil and needs to be stopped. Voltron can stop him with my help. And in return for helping you stop my father, I want Voltron to become an ambassador to my people. Only Voltron can convince the people of the goodwill of the Galra."

Keith studied Lotor's face trying to look for clues to his real intentions. There wasn't anything there. If Lotor was lying he was doing an excellent job.

"Let me prove myself. I know a great deal about my father's plans. I know how to win this war."

The rest of the group was nodding, except for Keith. He continued to study Lotor's face.

"The Galra are not evil. We need you." Lotor looked into Keith's eyes, nearly blinding him with the sincerity of it all. "I need you."

If he was a more trusting man he might have been convinced. There was just something about Lotor that Keith couldn't trust though.

Call it instinct.


	2. Chapter 1

Outside in the hall the Paladins were all quiet. No one seemed to want to break the silence.

It was Keith who changed it. "Well, I've got to get back to working with the Blade...so I'll leave Lotor to you." He nodded in Shiro's direction.

If anyone was going to stop him from leaving, he would have expected it to be Shiro. When someone spoke, however, something in Keith's stomach warmed at the knowledge that it was Lance who wanted him to stay. "Keith, wait."

Keith turned around to face him, not sure if he'd rather stay or leave.

"Keith...I...Look, you're still a part of the team, even if you're working with the Blade. This is an important decision. We need your judgement."

When had Lance ever given Keith a compliment. It was enough for Keith to barely be able to choke out an "okay" before Shiro started to speak.

"We definitely shouldn't trust Lotor, at least not right away. But I do think he has a point. It would be foolish for us not to at least try to work with him, especially if he has the information he says he does."

Shiro had a way of convincing everyone else to nod along to anything he said. It wouldn't work on Keith, though, he'd been around Shiro too long.

Allura chimed in, "I have to agree with Shiro on this. I know we've had our differences in the past, but if there's anything I've learned over the past several months it's that just because someone is Galra, does not make them evil." She glanced in Keith's direction before quickly looking away.

Keith was sure she hadn't meant to look at him with that comment. He couldn't help but take that personally though. His temper was flaring up. "Yeah, thanks for that Allura. I know I'm half Galra-"

"Keith." Shiro warned.

"No! Not all Galra being bad is _not_ a good enough reason to trust one. Lotor's been plotting against us this whole time! He just wants to use us-Voltron for something!" He hadn't meant to slip up. It was still odd not thinking of himself as a Paladin.

This time Matt spoke. "Keith, you make sense, but _Shiro_ is the leader, and should make the decisions about what is best for the team."

Matt hadn't purposefully meant it as a jab at Keith. He probably didn't even know that not long before that moment Keith had been the leader of Voltron. It didn't stop the cold knife from piercing Keith's heart. Keith had _wanted_ Shiro to be the leader again, but that didn't mean he wanted his opinion to be meaningless.

"FINE!" Keith spat it into the air like he had tasted something rotten. He threw up his hands in defeat. ' _Honestly I don't know why I'm even part of this discussion.'_

It wasn't until he got the concerned look from Lance that Keith realized he has said the second part aloud. Fortunately no one else seemed to hear.

Shiro spoke, diffusing the situation. "If I'm deciding, I think we need to work with Lotor on the war efforts. That being said, it's important that we be careful, and that we don't give him our full trust at first."

The Coran, Allura, and Matt nodded in agreement. Hunk and Pidge each muttered something about it "being reasonable."

Lance looked..unsure. Keith wasn't used to him looking anything but entirely confident. It was slightly off putting.

Lance glanced from Shiro's face, and back to Keith's for a few moments before he finally spoke. "Okay...I guess so…"

"Looks like I'm out voted." Keith tried to make his voice sound even, but he was failing miserably. "As I said, I've got to get back to the Blade of Marmora. I guess I'll be seeing you…"

He walked down the hall, turning the corner until he was out of the others' eyesight. A part of Keith really hoped that someone would come after him. He knew they wouldn't though. They were paladins, and he wasn't. They had a connection to each other that Keith had given up. It was his own fault.

As if he existed only to prove Keith wrong, Lance surprised him yet again. "Keith, wait."

He turned to look at the boy, trying to mask his surprise. It was true that he and Lance had become closer after Keith had become the red paladin. Lance's acceptance of him as the leader had caused a change in their relationship. Even their banter with each other was different, like there was something between them that hadn't been there before. Keith mused that it was a mutual respect.

"Keith...look I know you don't want to trust Lotor."

 _Ugh._ Now that it was Lance's turn to defend Lotor, Keith definitely didn't want anything to do with it. "I don't care what you do."

Had Keith said that too abruptly? He hadn't wanted to insult Lance or put distance between them. He only wanted to end this conversation quickly so that he could go back to the Blade and forget this whole thing with Lotor ever happened.

Lance frowned. "Okay, well then I know you have doubts about Lotor."

"I'm not interested in talking about this Lance."

"Look...Lotor might actually have some good intel-"

"I said I don't care if you trust him." Keith cut Lance off. This conversation was not going how either of them wanted it to. Keith could tell that much.

"I know!" Lance paused, recollecting himself. "I'm just saying that he's got a perspective that we don't have on the empire. There's a lot to learn."

"THEN LEARN! GO AHEAD AND TRUST HIM!" Keith's anger was getting the better of him. The idea of Lance learning _anything_ from Lotor made Keith's stomach turn over.

"No that's-"

"I DON'T CARE LANCE!" He turned away to walk back down the hall, running one of his hands through his hair in frustration at the same time. He wished he had a better handle on his anger sometimes. It wasn't fair to Lance.

Lance tried one more time to bring the conversation back, before Keith had a chance to disappear down the hall. "Look...I'm just trying to say that I'll make sure to keep an eye on him for you."

Keith paused mid step, listening.

Lance continued, quieter now, and getting softer with every word. "That way you won't have to worry when you're with the Blade." He trailed off at the last word.

Silence fell like snowflakes between them.

Keith couldn't think of anything else to say except a quiet, "thanks."

The two boys walked in opposite directions down the hall. Lance heading toward the noise and resignation of the other paladins, and Keith heading towards the quiet and isolation of space and the Blade.

* * *

Having Lotor around was strange. Shiro didn't think it would be showing good will if they kept him locked up somewhere in the castle, so instead the solution was to have someone watching him at all times. That meant he was hanging around in the common areas a lot.

At first he didn't speak much. He was watching them all carefully. Lance wasn't sure what information Lotor could possibly gather from watching them all so intently, but he didn't want to find out. The entire thing struck him as a terrible idea.

 _Shiro is the leader, so I'm just gonna have to grin and bear it._ Lance wasn't about to let one purple alien get him down. It was still awkward having him there though.

Hunk brought in some milkshakes for everyone. There was something about food that always made people relax. Hunk could just pick up on that. He handed a milkshake to Lance.

"Hunk! Have I told you lately that you are my favorite person in this side of the galaxy?" He sucked on the straw greedily.

"Yes, but you could say it more often."

Lance lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Hey, you coulda made me drop it." Hunk stuck out his tongue at Lance.

"Ah, but see, that was my plan all along. Then I could have caught the tray and been everyone's hero!" He wiggled his eyebrow at Pidge.

They snorted. "Yeah, but that would take quick reflexes."

Lance made a show about how insulted he was by Pidge. He made an audible gasp and held his hand to his chest while jumping up off the couch. "I'll have you know that I have cat like reflexes." He moved his hands in some different poses to make them all laugh. It worked. "I'm faster than...CoranI What's the fastest thing you know of?"

"That would be a Yellow-Bellied Cruupt Racer."

"Yeah!" He was jumping around. "I've got reflexes faster than a Yellow-Bellied-"

He knocked into someone behind him and fell to the ground. It was Matt. Like a domino he fell too and bumped into Hunk, whose milkshakes flew through the air, only to land on Allura, Coran, and Pidge's heads.

"Lance!" They all said at once.

"Whoops, sorry." He smiled sheepishly. "To be fair the milkshake looks good on you." He winked at Allura.

She rolled her eyes. And then they all started laughing.

Hunk went to the kitchen and Lance followed to get something to help clean everyone up. He was glad they all laughed at his clumsiness, but he still felt slightly bad about it.

"Hunk, do you need any help?"

"Nah man, thanks, but I you remember what happened the last time I let you near the blender." He smirked at Lance.

"Okay. Fair point. But how was I supposed to know that Altean blenders work completely different from ones from Earth? There shouldn't be a button that just makes the entire thing explode. What's the use in that?"

"Oh I dunno." Hunk nudged him with his shoulder. "It did a great job of making _me_ laugh."

"Ha. Ha." Lance grabbed some towels off the counter. "Sorry for ruining your milkshakes, buddy."

"It's alright. I don't mind making more."

Lance headed back out of the kitchen to help the others clean up. Back in the common room Matt had taken the seat that Lance had been at only a moment before. He was ruffling Pidge's hair, sticky now with milkshake, and they were laughing, trying to get his hands off. Allura was laughing too, Coran helping her clean herself up.

It was a sweet scene, made all the sweeter with the milkshakes, but something about their easy laughter without him made Lance's stomach tighten.

His head whipped around with a sudden thought. The panic subsided when he spotted Lotor out of the corner of his eye. He was sitting in exactly the same place he had been, watching as carefully as always. He met Lance's eye. There was, what Lance could only describe as, a very menacing twinkle in his eye.

It made Lance's stomach tighten even further. He walked forward with the towels, handing them off to Coran and Pidge. He tried to bring his laid back smile back, but he was pretty sure there was a stiffness to it they all could sense.

Lance decided to sit so that he could see Lotor a bit better, to keep an eye on him. It meant he was slightly further away from the group, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make if it kept them all safe.

Hunk reappeared with more milkshakes and some green cookies as well this time. He handed one to each of the Paladins and Matt, who were still cleaning themselves up. The last one Hunk awkwardly walked over to Lotor and handed him.

"Ah...thank you, tall kindly paladin…" Lotor waited expectantly.

"Hunk...uh...I hope your stay with us is pleasant…" Hunk felt awkward trying to be nice to Lotor, but it was all for the best.

Lotor made a sharp nod before Hunk turned around to sit back down with the others.

"Wait!" Lance said, exaggerating how offended he was, "What do you mean Lotor gets one of your food goo cookies, but I don't?"

"Well, _Lotor_ didn't spill milkshakes all over everyone." Hunk tilted his head and sipped at his own cup.

"I'll have you know that it was Matt who bumped into you, not me."

"Hey!" Matt made a show out of pretending to be offended.

Everyone laughed.

Lance's laugh felt heavier than usual. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but it probably had at least a little bit to do with the easy laugh of the purple alien nearby.


	3. Chapter 2

Everyone took turns guarding Lotor.

Lance hadn't been sure what to expect from Lotor when it was his first turn to watch him. They were in the room that Lotor had been assigned as his bedroom. Lance took the duty from Pidge, who immediately ran off to find their brother and Hunk.

"Hey wait!"

"No time...gotta science!" Pidge ran off down the hall. It was true that Lance probably had a lot less to do on the ship than Pidge did. He couldn't blame them for wanting to get back to it.

Shiro hadn't been giving Lance a lot of responsibilities lately. He had never trusted Lance all that much with anything major, but Lance figured it had just been because Shiro knew Keith better than him.

Without Keith, Lance thought a lot of that burden would fall to him, but instead Shiro seemed to default to Matt or Allura. Even Pidge and Hunk were given more duties aboard the castle. _Not that I mind, though, it just means more video games for me._ Lance's throat felt dry at the thought of playing video games for hours in the dark by himself. He swallowed to get rid of it and shook his head.

Lance _liked_ playing video games. It was a source of enjoyment for him. So why-

Lotor was sitting on a chair brushing his hair. He didn't even glance up as Lance entered, but as though he could read Lance's mind he said. "So, I presume you have nothing better to do than watch me this evening? What, you don't have something better to be doing? No girlfriend to-"

Lance felt his face flush. "You know that's not how this works." He had to keep calm, if Lotor got him mad it would be easier for something to go wrong. He was not going to give Lotor the benefit of seeing his bubbly personality either, just out of spite. He muttered under his breath. "I'd rather be doing something else."

"Oh, don't get upset, darling, I'm only teasing."

Lance's face was hot. He leaned against the wall, watching Lotor intently. Lance knew that Lotor would just keep at it if he gave him any sort of reaction, so he planned to stay silent. _Channel Keith._

Lotor chattered on, pausing on occasion, waiting for a reaction from Lance with his words. "That other paladin...Pidge, was it...they rushed out of here in a hurry...do you think they were more excited to get away from me or you?"

 _Be quiet and brooding, just like Keith._

"You know, out of all the paladins I've met you strike me as the odd one out. Pidge is obviously talented with science, Hunk is a strong engineer, Shiro and Allura are born leaders, plus she's magical. Even that one called Matt is intelligent and trustworthy. but what about you? What's your strong suit?"

 _Okay, that would probably piss Keith off enough to start a fist fight. Be like Shiro?_ He was losing it, but that was fine as long as Lotor didn't see.

"Seems to me that the Paladin of the red lion should be the best pilot since she's the fastest. Do you think that role fits you? From what I've seen it seems to me Red's piloting got worse a couple months ago."

 _Don't punch him in the face...don't punch him in the face._ Silence wasn't working, Lance needed to do something else or he wasn't going to last much longer.

"You know who struck me as someone who'd be an excellent pilot? Who could do wonders as a paladin for the red lion? That other fellow who left for the Blade...Keith I think his name was?"

He had to say something. He needed to come up with some words that would shock Lotor enough to stop trying to torment him. As the words formed in his mind Lance almost shocked himself. "Keith's an excellent pilot."

"Ah...you have a soft spot for the boy? I thought I sensed something between you two."

"Quit it." Lance's voice came out as a growl.

"What, no jokes today? You had plenty yesterday when you made a fool of yourself."

 _Calm. Peace. Serenity. Your siblings used to nag you all the time like this. You can do this, think of home._ He closed his eyes, trying to return his breathing to normal.

"We had men just like you working for the Galra. We called them court jesters."

 _What, is he trained in how to insult me? Did he take lessons from my little sister?_ Lance was fuming, close to his breaking point.

"I wonder how long it'll be before Matt takes over the red lion from you. Do you want to make a bet-"

 _Screw it. Siblings fist fight all the time._

Lance jumped at Lotor, sending a punch flying directly at his face. Lotor's eyes locked onto Lance's. There was no surprise in them.

When the punch connected there were two things Lance knew for certain: 1. Lotor could have easily dodged his punch and probably could have taken him down if he wanted to. 2. Lance was in very big trouble.

* * *

"Honestly Lance, what has gotten into you?" Shiro was shaking his head and using his disappointed dad voice.

Lance looked studiously at the floor.

"I don't even think Keith would have punched Lotor regardless of what he said. Just explain this to me...explain to me what happened?"

"I told you...he said some things that got under my skin. He was _trying_ to provoke me. He wanted me to attack him." Lance's voice was pleading, begging Shiro to understand.

"But he didn't even fight back. What could he have possibly said that would make you disobey an order so important?"

"It wasn't...he just...it was personal…"

"We need him, Lance, he has some of the best insights into the Galra empire we've ever had. You could have jeopardized all of that. Do you really think that a few insults are worth the countless lives we can save with Lotor on our side?" Shiro was stern, commanding, all the traits of a good leader.

"He's not...he's not a good guy. I think he's up to something-"

"No. He's not. No one else has had any problems with him. They all have been getting along with him just fine."

"They haven't noticed what I have." Lance looked up to meet Shiro's eyes, the dissapointment was evident.

"Really? You think that the most calculating person on our team, Pidge, would miss something? Or that Allura, who has an understandable distrust of the Galra, wouldn't pick up on it? Do you doubt your team so much?"

Lance took a sharp intake of breath. "No! I just...Lotor's the problem. He's driving a wedge or something. You have to listen to me!"

Lance could feel tears forming in the corners of his eyes. He pulled them back. He was _not_ going to let Shiro see him cry.

"Lotor's not the problem here, Lance! You are."

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! Thanks for reading so far!

No Keith in this chapter makes me want to cry a little. No worries though, he'll be back soon.


	4. Chapter 3

Lance wasn't allowed to watch Lotor by himself anymore. The rest of the team was unhappy with the added work. Babysitting Lotor had already put a visible strain on Pidge's already packed schedule, and the frustration from the rest of the team was noticeable in the air.

It was the first time since leaving Earth that Lance would walk into a room and the people within would suddenly stop talking, as though they had been talking about _him_ just a moment before. Lance tried not to show how much it bothered him. He knew it couldn't last forever.

There were only seven of them in the castle. That's fewer people than Lance had in his immediate family, and no matter how much he got in trouble or irritated them, they would always forgive him in the end. That was how families worked.

Surely his space family wasn't different, right?

He wanted to help, somehow. If he wasn't allowed to watch Lotor maybe he could take some of their other burden's away.

When Hunk shuffled into the kitchen to make lunch, Lance followed. "Hey, man, can I help you make lunch?"

Hunk turned, and shot a sad smile in Lance's direction. "You know I love you, and everything and could use the help...but I've also seen you try to fry an egg."

"Yeah, but this is food goo. It can't be as difficult as egg frying…"

"Lance," Hunk raised his eyebrows and wore an amused smile on his face, "first of all, frying an egg is not difficult. Second of all, you burnt down the entire community kitchen at the Garrison!"

"Yeah, okay, but I learned a lot from that experience."

"The fire was so bad the firefighters initially thought someone had set off a bomb!"

"Okay, okay, I'm a terrible cook." Hunk snorted at Lance's comment. "I can tell when I'm not wanted." Lance chortled at himself, backing out of the kitchen.

As soon as he was out of sight he let his laugh drop off and frowned.

Lance was determined to make things right between him and everyone else. He had thought Hunk would be the easiest. At least Hunk hadn't seemed mad at him, just tired and busy. Lance took a moment and sighed, leaning against a wall.

 _Time to try to help someone else._ He pushed off the wall and sprung on his feet, attempting to appear energetic and his usual self.

He ran into Pidge in the next room. They were hurrying off somewhere and looked completely exhausted. Lance knew he wasn't smart enough to help them with whatever project they were working on, but maybe he could at least help relieve some of the stress.

"Hey Pidge! Do you want to take a spin on the Gameflux later? We're only on level five of Nuclear Complex, supposedly there's an easter egg on the next level." He wiggled his eyebrows in Pidge's direction.

Pidge looked up, eyes strained. "No, I don't have time to play games right now. I need to focus on decoding this galra tech." They hurried off down the corridor.

The way Pidge spoke to him almost made Lance feel like he was the younger one of the two. Lance would have to try to work with them later. Pidge was such an invaluable member of the team, Lance worried that if they got too stressed they would start to crack under the pressure. He wasn't about to let that happen.

Lance heard laughter coming from the common room.

He poked his head inside to see Allura and Matt laughing on the ground. Pieces of some kind of technology were littered around them. They were fixing _something_ that the castle needed to run.

It was clear even in their laughter that they were working hard. Allura was examining fist sized crystals in the light. Matt was focused on some kind of programming. Even Allura's mice were helping, jumping around the piles of tech to find bolts and pieces that were needed.

Something about the scene made Lance's stomach twinge. He tried to tell himself it was just jealousy because Matt was flirting with Allura, but it didn't quite match the feeling.

It _was_ jealousy, but not over some girl. _I'm the one that usually makes everyone laugh._

He banished the thought. Lance was on a mission to make everyone's lives a little easier ever since he'd screwed up, and sometimes that just meant making people laugh and have a bit of a better day. If there was now someone else in the castle that could do that...well...that was a _positive_ thing.

He took a deep breath before stepping into the room.

"Allura! Matt! Hey! Anything I can help with?" He kept his voice even, made sure it sounded bubbly like usual.

Allura stopped her laughter. "Sorry Lance, but this is actually quite delicate…"

"Oh...well, that's okay. What were you talking about?" Maybe he could add to the laughter or find something to do. The mice were helping, so surely Lance could too.

"Lance, really. I'm sorry, but we need to focus on what we're doing. We don't have any time for distractions." Allura frowned.

"Okay, sorry. I just wanted to help." The evenness in his voice cracked on the last word. He hadn't meant it to come out sounding so desperate or childish.

Allura studied Lance for a second. She frowned deeper and her eyebrows knitted together. For all intents and purposes her expression looked like pity for a second.

That was _definitely not_ how he wanted Allura to look at him. Lance privately thanked his skin for being dark for a second, as he could feel his face burn slightly with embarrassment. Hopefully Allura wouldn't notice.

Matt spoke up first. "I think...uh...Coran might have needed help with something…"

"Oh yes!" Allura nodded at him in agreement, flashing Matt a look of thanks. "Coran could definitely use help! He's on the bridge working on reattaching the allcema plates for the propulsion light drive. It's definitely a two person job, everyone else has just been so busy...uh…"

She trailed off awkwardly. Lance didn't need another word though. Relief swept through him, cutting through the embarrassment. "Right! I'll...ah...go help him." He turned and walked out of the room, trying not to look too eager to run away from the awkwardness in the room.

Back out in the hall Lance just about collapsed against a wall. "Oh, god…"

Lance could deal with people laughing at him, and making fun of him. He almost encouraged it, even, whatever it took to lighten the mood and make people smile. But pity? Pity was not something Lance ever wanted.

If Allura was the heart of Voltron, Lance just wanted to be the smile. The person the other's relied on to make a bad situation good again.

 _But it looks like Matt fits that role better than I do._ The thought forced itself to the forefront of Lance's brain before he hastily pushed it back down again. He was not going to let his mind go there.

 _Leave the math to Pidge…_

He allowed that memory to fill his thoughts, remembering Keith's smile as Lance turned away. He kept holding onto it as he wandered down the hall, towards the bridge.

The castle was huge and empty. It had been intended for so many more people to live there. You could walk from the top to the bottom without ever running into another person. That's why when Lance heard voices coming from one of the rooms he stopped suddenly.

He recognized the voices as Lotor's and Shiro's. _Shiro must be on watching Lotor duty._

Lance was about to leave, not wanting to accidentally run into either of the people inside the room. It was definitely in his best interest to leave as fast as possible to avoid Shiro's disappointed gaze or Lotor's one puffy blue eye from where he had punched him.

But then he realized what the room was. It was one of the main communication rooms within the castle. It was one of the rooms Lotor wasn't allowed in at all, regardless of if he was being watched by a Paladin.

If Shiro had broken one of his own rules, that he had lectured the others about for an hour about no less, then it must be for something important. Lance couldn't help himself, he snuck closer to the door.

"I've implanted more memories in him like you've directed me to, but I'm not sure it's going to be enough." Lotor paused.

Lance wasn't sure if someone was talking to them from their communications that he couldn't hear, or if he had paused waiting for Shiro to speak.

Lotor spoke again after a moment. "Yes, but if project Kuron is going to work we have to be patient. If we move too fast the others will suspect something."

So he _was_ talking to someone else through the communications. _What is project Kuron?_

Lance moved even closer to the door, listening carefully, then Shiro's voice reached his ears.

"We only have about 30 more ticks of communication time." His voice was stoic, almost robotic. It was definitely Shiro's voice, but somehow it didn't sound anything like it at all.

Lance knew it was a risk, standing there, when Lotor and Shiro would be leaving the room in less than a minute. The hallway he was in was long and didn't have any nearby doors or hiding spaces. If they left the room early they'd definitely spot Lance.

Lance needed to know though. He needed to learn more.

There was another long pause before Lotor spoke again. "Ah...yes. Keep up the good work. I'll speak to you when I can."

 _Damn_. Lance wasn't going to get anything else.

The door handle suddenly rattled, about to be opened by someone inside the room.

Lance panicked. He didn't have any good choices. He took off running down the hall, hoping that it would take Lotor and Shiro a few moments to leave.

It was a good thing Lance was fast. He managed to get out of sight from the door, turned a corner in the hall. He couldn't tell if anyone was following him, his blood was pounding in his ears.

Lance turned another corner and stopped, trying to catch his breath for a second.

What had it all meant? He tried to recall the conversation word for word, but there were too many missing pieces.

Lotor had said something about Project Kuron, something about it needing to be slow, and something about implanting memories. That wasn't a lot for Lance to go off of. _But if Shiro was in the room, it couldn't have been something bad._ Shiro was their leader. Lance didn't always love following Shiro's orders, but he was trustworthy and smart.

Different ideas whizzed around Lance's brain, each more crazy than the last. There wasn't enough information to do anything with. He contemplated telling Allura, but he knew she would just suggest talking to Shiro and getting his side of things.

But if Shiro was somehow working with Lotor, then knowing what Lance had overheard would just paint a target on Lance's back. Shiro would definitely come up with some excuse that everyone would trust, Lance would want to trust it too. _But what it...what if..._ There were just too many unknowns.

It was decided. Lance would have to investigate more.

"Lance!?"

It was Shiro. At the very moment Lance had made up his mind, Shiro had turned the corner to see Lance leaning against a wall, out of breath and panting.

Lance's eyes went wide. He felt the blood drain from his face. "Hey Shir-o." He noticed Lotor following Shiro from behind. "Lotor…"

Lance's voice was coming out too high pitched and strained. _Calm down, calm down, calm down!_

"Lance?" Shiro questioned.

"I was...I was...I was just heading up to the bridge to give Coran a hand with some kind of plate thingies, you know how he is...always needing a hand...and I've got two of them...oh jeez sorry man, I know you've got one, but your Galra hand is basically like a normal hand except that you can kill people with it...I mean not people...ya know aliens." Lance was rambling, badly. If there had been any doubt in Shiro's mind that Lance had overheard the conversation it had to be quickly leaving.

Shiro looked calm. He looked patient.

It scared the shit out of Lance. "So anyway...Coran is expecting me, so I've gotta go." Lance turned to leave, but then Shiro's voice sent a chill down his spine.

"Wonderful. I'm glad you're working hard. It sounds like Lotor and I should tag along and help too. Coran definitely wouldn't mind the extra help."

If Lance had originally had any plans about talking to one of the other paladins, that was officially not going to happen.

* * *

Lance's palms were sweating bad enough that the corner of the plate he was holding slipped and sliced his hand open.

"CRAP!" It stung, badly, leaving tears in Lance's eyes. Blood started dripping down his palm, mixing with the sweat.

"Be careful, Lance, this takes a Slyra's careful touch to do properly." Coran said it as though Lance would know what a Slyra was.

"Sorry, Coran! I'm bleeding, so I should really head to the med bay." He hadn't intended to cut himself, but if it gave Lance an excuse to get away from Shiro and Lotor, he would take it.

They were currently wrestling with their own plate, distracted enough that Lance might just be able to make his escape.

"Lance, I'll take you to the med bay." Shiro said.

 _Damn_. Lance thought, clearly he hadn't been distracted enough.

"No, no, it's fine. It's just a cut." Lance tried to play it off like it was nothing, but the cut was clearly deep and hurt pretty bad.

Shiro continued like Lance hadn't even said anything. "Actually, we should all take a break. Hunk should have lunch ready by now. Coran, why don't you watch Lotor and take him down to the dining hall, and Lance and I will meet up with you after we get his hand fixed up."

Coran nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

Lance groaned internally. If Shiro was evil, Lance was definitely about to be murdered.

He followed Shiro's steps down to the med bay, careful not to get too close.

"Lance…" Shiro said, suddenly, opening the door for Lance to step inside. "Are you feeling alright today? You've been acting strange. I know I was harsh the last time we spoke, but I don't want there to be any hard feelings between us. We all need to get along for the best of the team."

Lance's mouth dropped open. He studied Shiro's face, not seeing even an ounce of suspicious behavior there. It was so sincere. Lance had a sudden urge just to trust Shiro.

They'd all been through so much together these last few months. Was it right for Lance to doubt all of that after overhearing one conversation?

"No...no, I've just...I've been feeling a bit like the weak link of the team right now…" Lance trailed off into silence. There had been a time before Shiro disappeared that Lance had trusted him with thoughts like these. The memory of Keith came back to him as well... _leave the math to Pidge._

Shiro grabbed Lance's injured hand and started patching it up. "Ah...I see, is that all?"

"Y-yeah." Lance had a sharp intake of breath when something Shiro was doing made his hand sting.

"Sorry about that, you can stick your hand in the healing pod now."

Lance moved his hand over to rest in the pod. It was an odd feeling to watch his cut stitching itself back together.

"Lance...you can always come to me if you have doubts about anything."

"Yeah, I know." He pulled his hand out of the pod to examine it. It looked perfect, there wouldn't even be a scar.

"I'm serious, Lance. If you have doubts about yourself or someone else, if you ever _overhear_ something that makes you uncomfortable, just talk to me about it."

The emphasis made Lance's mouth feel dry all of a sudden. "Y-yeah." He said, and then under his breath he muttered, "because that worked so well the last time."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." Lance cursed at himself.

"Alright, well let's get to lunch." Shiro turned to leave.

"Actually, I'm feeling kind of sick. I think I'm going to skip lunch and just hang out in my room instead." He prayed that Shiro would let him go.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

"I'll walk you down there."

 _Damn._ Lance had been so close to freedom, but maybe he would be able to figure something out while alone in his room.

He followed slightly behind Shiro again, still not trusting him.

What could Lance do? It was pretty clear that Shiro would prevent Lance from being alone with any of the paladins. He could always try to sneak out and talk to one of them at night, but getting one of them to trust him and not talk to Shiro about it would be a problem.

 _Ugh...I need to talk to someone who's known Shiro for a long time and would know if he's acting strange._

Lance's first thought went to Matt. The idea of him having a heart to heart conversation with someone he barely knew was not an ideal. Even if he could find a way to talk to Matt, there were no guarantees with how Matt might react. Besides, Matt couldn't be feeling too charitable toward Lance anyway. Lance's fight with Lotor meant that Matt _also_ had extra duties.

No, Lance needed someone who knew Shiro, and wasn't currently mad at Lance for anything.

Lance needed Keith.

Lance stepped inside his room and said goodbye to Shiro. He listened until the footsteps receded around the corner.

The closest communications room wasn't very far. He wouldn't be able to have a long conversation, but he hoped it would be enough to help him figure things out. Listening to the door once more, he reopened it and took a sprint around the corner.

It was time to figure this out.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey! Sorry for making you wait, I took the weekend off. I also made this chapter too long, ha! I was hoping I would get to the conversation with Keith, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow.


	5. Chapter 4

Now that he was face to face with Keith, Lance wasn't actually sure where to start.

He wasn't even technically face to face with him, but the comm screen was lit up with Keith's face, asking Lance, "Hey, Lance. What's going on?"

The concern in Keith's voice was evident.

"Uh...hey...hey, man…how are you?"

"Lance! Are you alright? Is the team alright? What's going on?"

"Uh…" Now that he thought about it, accusing one of Keith's closest friends of being an imposter or maybe just evil was probably not the best idea. Currently Keith was the only person Lance could talk to about this, he had to make sure not to screw this up. It was definitely better to skirt around the issue.

"Lance...seriously...what's going on?" Keith's eyebrows knitted themselves together, but his voice was a bit softer than it had been before.

"So...uh…" Lance was trying to think through what he could say, but then inspiration struck him, "So you remember how, uh, I told you that I would keep an eye on Lotor for you?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"Well, I-I think he's up to something." The statement was so feeble, Lance almost felt embarrassed that he had said it.

But Keith took it with the utmost sincerity. He sat up straighter, looked more alert. His voice was deeper, more focused. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know."

"Lance."

"Okay, I just...I overheard him saying something weird...uh...like he was talking on a comm system."

"Isn't someone always supposed to be with him?"

"Well...yeah...but that's the thing...Shiro was with him, but Shiro didn't sound like Shiro."

To his credit, Keith didn't look defensive or angry Lance was accusing his friend of something. Keith looked puzzled. "What does that mean?"

"Look, that's really why I wanted to talk to you. You know Shiro better than anyone here, and I want to know if you've noticed anything _off_ about him."

"I mean...Lance, he's been through a lot...he's changed from when I knew him before the Kerberos mission...I-"

Lance cut him off. "Yep...got it. Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out myself."

"Wait! Lance...what-"

Lance cut the communication off before Keith could finish what he was saying.

Thousands of miles apart from each other both boys groaned in unison. _Why is dealing with him SO FRUSTRATING!_

Lance sighed. He knew he didn't have time to wait around. He needed to get back to his room before lunch finished or risk being caught by Shiro or Lotor.

 _Ugh!_ The talk with Keith hadn't gotten him anywhere!

Lance kicked at the wall, slightly too hard. It was only afterwards, when he was bouncing up and down on one leg, trying not to make a sound, that he realized how stupid that had been.

He snuck back to his room, as fast as he could with one injured foot.

 _Time to come up with a new plan…_

* * *

"Hey! Pidge!"

Pidge could barely take their eyes off of their computer to look up at Lance. They were so focused on whatever they were busy with. "Oh, hey Lance...are you feeling better?"

"What? Oh...oh yeah, I'm fine. I think the healing pod just left me feeling a little funny or something, but I feel fine now…" Lance had almost forgot that he had given that excuse to Shiro earlier.

"Oh yeah...that's good…" Pidge trailed off, clearly distracted.

To an untrained eye, it wouldn't appear like Shiro was following Lance around. It wasn't as though it was unusual for teammates to be in the same room together. It was just coincidence that if Lance went to a different room, Shiro would pop up a few minutes later.

Lance knew he only had a few seconds before he was being spied on again.

"Hey, with all of the intelligence you've gathered, do you think there would be a way to search through the Galra systems for a codename for a project?"

"Uh...well you can search for it, yeah, but you probably won't find anything."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we only have so much intelligence, and mostly what we have is location on the Galra fleet. The Galra keep a lot of their projects localized on a base, so in order to get any information about it you'd have to physically go to the base and hack into their systems directly."

"Great, Pidge, but we're not all genius hackers like you."

"You don't have to be, just use the Vega Protocol I created." Pidge was barely paying attention to what Lance was saying, and seemed to be getting slightly annoyed with him.

"The what?"

"The Vega Protocol, it's on the main computer too. Download the Protocol to a drive, connect the drive to the Galra base's mainframe, run the protocol, search for the codename, download what you find back onto the drive. It's not like it's rocket science."

The annoyance was clear to Lance. Normally he would have snapped back at their comment, but he was in a time crunch.

"How would I know which base to go to?" Lance was so keenly interested in what they were saying, he almost didn't notice the door open and Shiro walk in.

"Well, that's what I said earlier, go ahead and search the main computer for it, you might get lucky."

Lance had a sharp intake of breath, hoping that Shiro hadn't been listening too intently, or wouldn't be able to figure out what they had been talking about.

One thing was for sure though, Shiro would be watching too closely for him to sneak out and look at the main computer anytime soon. He would have to wait until the opportune moment. At least Pidge had unknowingly helped him form a new plan.

"Yeah! Anyway...kiddo, keep up the good work!" Lance wasn't sure if it was possible to be more awkward than he was.

"Lance, what are you even talking about now?" Pidge looked affronted at being called 'kiddo'. Iit was the first time they looked up from their computer the entire time Lance had been talking to them.

"Uh...sorry about that."

"Well, just leave me alone then. I've got too much work to do to get roped into whatever you're doing."

"Right, right. I'll just go and help Coran with the plates again or something…" Lance sighed and left.

Everywhere he went Lance could feel Shiro tailing along after him. It was irritating, but unfortunately for Shiro, Lance was an expert at losing a tail.

It came with the territory. Lance had a lot of younger siblings. They were always following around the older ones, trying to see what they were doing, trying to annoy each other. Lance had developed something of a sixth sense to knowing when he was being watched or followed. You only let your sister surprise you by jumping out of the closet so many times before you started paying attention.

The first step was patience. Lure your sibling, or in this case Shiro, into thinking that you don't know or don't care that you're being followed. Tire them out.

Lance helped Coran for a good few hours. Shiro was forced to help too, which was good for attempting to tire him out. That was, until Lance realized he was getting more tired than Shiro was.

Unfortunately for Lance, Shiro was a lot stronger and had a lot more stamina than any of his siblings.

 _Damn._ This was going to take some work.

After some more time the three of them took a break. Lance was sweating, this time from the physical effort and not from his nerves.

Coran spoke. "Well, the good news is we're almost done, the other good news is that it's almost dinner time." He clapped his hands together, excitedly.

 _Oh great, dinner._ Lance's stomach grumbled loudly. Skipping lunch had been a bad idea even if he had needed to try talking to Keith. It hadn't been worth it.

Lance just needed some kind of proof, any kind of proof. He hoped the computer would have something on it that he could use. Lance lost himself in thought while they reattached the last few plates.

* * *

Everyone else was already at the table waiting to eat. Suddenly Shiro turned around.

"Ah! I forgot I had something that I needed to check on. I'll be back in a few minutes. Go ahead and start without me." Shiro dashed off, running his fingers through his hair.

Lance perked up. Shiro was actually going to leave him alone with the others after all of this?

Lotor let out a small cough from his seat at the table.

 _Oh yeah...Lotor...damn…_ Lance still wouldn't be able to say anything to the others with Lotor around. If he and Shiro were working together it would mean that Shiro would hear about anything that Lance said. Shiro was definitely already acting suspicious of Lance, making him more suspicious could prove fatal.

He couldn't talk about anything that he had overheard, but maybe he could do something else.

"Does anyone think that Shiro's been acting a bit strange today?" Lance said, hoping the others have picked up anything.

"Not really. Honestly Lance I think the only person acting strange today was you." Pidge said it in between bites of food goo.

"Ah, you're still upset that I called you 'kiddo.'"

Hunk snorted. "You called Pidge kiddo?"

"In my defense I was still feeling sick after lunch."

"You told me you were feeling better!" Pidge squeaked.

"Okay, okay." Lance raised his hands in surrender.

That hadn't quite gone how Lance had planned. He needed to try to steer the conversation back on track.

"No, but seriously, you don't think Shiro's been acting strange at all?" Lance was focusing all the power of his brain waves to get one of them to agree with him.

"Nope."

"Not really."

 _Damn._ Lance had to keep trying. They needed to see what he was seeing. "You don't think it's odd that he would skip dinner?"

Hunk shrugged. "Well, I mean, he said he would be back, and it's not like he hasn't skipped dinner before. Besides, he has a lot to do, especially now that there's extra lotor watching duties."

 _Damn._ "Ri-ight. I guess I just feel like he's watching me more closely?" This was getting dangerously close to the truth.

Allura chimed in. "Well that's not exactly surprising considering your recent...uh.." She glanced at the puffy patch of blue under Lotor's eye. "Incident?"

Lance felt his face flush. "No...that's not...I...I just feel like something might be odd, okay?"

Lotor spoke this time, sending a shiver down Lance's spine. "It seems to me _everyone else_ is in agreement."

Lance felt anger flare up inside him. Lotor was playing with him as though he were a toy. "You can stay out of this."

"Lance!" Allura warned.

"No!" Lance stood up. "Lotor's up to something! I know it!"

"LANCE!"

This time it was Shiro's voice that reverberated through the dining hall. Lance felt the blood drain from his face. Shiro was not happy looking.

"Shiro! I-"

"You need to leave this alone!" Shiro wasn't quite yelling, but his voice was loud and commanding. A leader's voice.

"I-"

"It was _my_ decision that Lotor would stay, he's staying! You need to control yourself. You've caused nothing but problems recently."

"Shiro! I know that there's-" In his panic, Lance almost forgot that he was suspicious of Shiro too.

"NO! You're the only one causing problems. Lotor has done nothing to suggest he's being anything but truthful. Right now I trust _him_ more than I trust you!" Shiro was getting louder, getting dangerously close to yelling.

"It's not-"

"I TOLD YOU TO LET IT GO, LANCE!"

"But, I-"

"IF YOU CAN'T TRUST LOTOR, YOU NEED TO TRUST ME. AND IF YOU CAN'T TRUST ME THEN MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T BE PART OF THE TEAM!"

Lance opened and closed his mouth wordlessly for a moment.

Shiro, seeming to realize what he had just said, suddenly got quieter, his voice apologetic. "Lance, that's not what I meant! I just mean that you need to trust me."

Shiro's eyes looked somber, worried. The other's sat around the table completely shocked.

Lance looked at him, wondering if it was all an act. He couldn't tell. Disgusted, he grabbed his bowl of food goo and turned around to head out of the dining hall.

Hunk ran after him before he made it past the door, Allura following behind.

Quietly hunk said. "That's not what Shiro meant, you're really important to the team."

Allura nodded in agreement. "Yes, Shiro doesn't want you to leave the team."

Lance looked past them, back to where Shiro stood, looking as shocked and apologetic as it was possible for a person to be.

Lance opened his mouth to speak, still gazing at Shiro. "You're right... _Shiro_ doesn't."

* * *

 **A/N:** OMG I'm dying with Lance and Keith not being in the same spaceship together...and I'm the author and I know where this story is going and I'm dying, so you all must be going absolutely crazy! Also Pidge has all of the answers, always, and any good teammate knows that.

I was hoping to get through one more scene today, but it'll have to wait.

In other news the next chapter is going to be killer…

See you tomorrow. :)


	6. Chapter 5

Lance waited until he was sure most people were asleep before he dared sneak out of his room. He grabbed the thumbdrive off his desk that he'd wiped earlier. He hoped it had enough space for Pidge's program. He might only have one shot at this, so it needed to go as smoothly as possible.

He was careful. Lance listened at each door before opening it. He'd peek his head around corners before tiptoeing down the hall.

It was quiet. No one was out of their rooms at this hour. Lance mused that the only person he probably would have run into, on a normal day, would have been Keith. That perpetual insomniac was always on the training deck or working on some other project.

He made it to the main computer without incident, though.

As the computer ran his search for Project Kuron he poked around the control room. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, maybe some sort of trap or something, that Lotor or Shiro had set up. There was nothing, though.

The entire thing made the hair on Lance's arms stand on end. Shiro was smart enough to figure out that Lance wanted to search something on the main computer. It wouldn't make sense for Shiro to make it easy for him to access whatever information, unless it was a trap…

Maybe Shiro didn't know that Lance had overheard the project codename, so he wasn't worried about Lance finding out about Project Kuron.

 _Or maybe,_ said the voice in Lance's head, _Shiro and Lotor really are trustworthy, and you're the one that's acting strange._

A series of beeps from the computer drove the thought from his head. The screen lit up with the message: "Search Completed: 1 Match Found"

The computer pointed to a small base, only a few clicks away from where the castle was now. That was lucky. He wouldn't need to figure out how to get Allura to power a wormhole jump. The regular ships in the castle only had enough magical energy stored for a single jump, so his options would have been getting stranded and waiting until morning for the team to rescue him or having to wait until the castle eventually passed close enough to the base to be able to do an operation.

This trip, though, he could do tonight.

He plugged his drive into the computer and made a search for the Vega Protocol Pidge had mentioned. It only took a few minutes to find and download.

Lance raced back to his room as carefully as he could to change into his paladin armor. He didn't have a plan yet for how to get into the base and extract the data. It would have to wait until he was there and could see what sort of security they had.

He grabbed whatever he thought he might need, which in the end ended up not being much. It was a stealth operation, which to be fair was not Lance's strong suit. Even if Keith was a hothead, he was better at these sort of things. And Pidge, with all of their cloaking devices and technology, was the master at stealth.

They would have been the dream team, for a mission like this. As it was, Lance would have to make do with just himself.

He ran to the hangar. The lions stared down at him expectantly. "Sorry, Red, but I need something stealthier." He patted the lion's metal apologetically.

He chose a ship that was light and fast. It only had small guns loaded at the front, which wouldn't do much damage if the Galra attacked. Hopefully Lance wouldn't need any firepower, though, and the guns wouldn't matter.

He packed up the few things he had brought and looked around at the lions. It was odd thinking he was going into deep space by himself. This was probably the most dangerous thing he'd ever done in his life, and he was including flirting with Allura on that list.

He saluted the lions before stepping into his craft. _Let's do this…_

* * *

The base was smaller than Lance had expected. There were no Galra ships coming in and out of the station. For all intents and purposes it looked abandoned.

Lance watched, intently, trying to figure out if there was anyone inside the base at all. He drummed his fingertips on the top of the dashboard, nervously, trying to come up with all of the possibilities.

Possibility one: the base really _was_ abandoned and it would be easy for him to go in and extract the information he needed about project Kuron.

Possibility two: the base only looked like it was abandoned as a cover, so that it would be easily ignored by the nonchalant space traveller. Going inside would likely mean running into Galra and dying.

Possibility three: the whole thing was a trap.

Now that he was here, in front of the base, he was unsure. Was risking his life worth getting some information? He wasn't even sure if the base would have anything useful. There was no way to tell, until he was inside, if the information even existed inside their computer.

But going back to the castle without any information would mean that he would have no leads. He would have to follow Lotor and Shiro around until they let something else slip. He found it unlikely that they would be that reckless a second time.

 _If_ there really _was_ something going on...if there was something wrong with Shiro, or if he wasn't really Shiro anymore and was plotting something out with Lotor...if there was no way to know what they were planning it could mean Voltron getting taken by the Galra. It could mean the end of the universe. It could mean the end of his friend's lives.

Surely dying was worth that.

Lance let out the breath he was holding. He frowned and closed his eyes for a second, concentrating on his thoughts. He would just have to try.

He flew the ship closer to the base with the cloaking engaged. He turned most of the engine power down, so that the ship was almost as silent as the grave. Lance wanted to coast the ship as much as possible, so that docking would be an almost unnoticeable affair.

"Easy." He breathed out, like he was coaxing a feral animal into taking a piece of food from his hand. "Easy, now."

He felt the ship bump against the base's hull. It was slightly harder than he'd intended, but it still shouldn't have been noticeable if there were any Galra aboard.

 _Keith would have done it perfectly,_ the back of his mind said. Lance shook his head to clear the thought.

His hands moved freely around the controls. The whir of the docking connector was the only sound in the tiny spacecraft. Once he knew everything was secured, Lance grabbed his bayard, making sure it was secured tightly to his hip, and hopped out of the ship into the unknown of the base.

The lights were off. Lance's suit had the ability to glow with light, so it was never a problem if he ended up in a dark cave on some planet or something. If there were Galra around, though, the suit would alert them to his presence right away.

He mused on the possibility of trying to find the main computer in absolute darkness. The probability of success was just about nonexistent. Lance took a deep breath before pushing a button and the lights on his suit came to life.

Nothing happened. Either the Galra were not on the base at all, or they weren't anywhere closeby. He could see the hall in front of him went on for a long way. _Guess I have to start walking._

Lance walked around the base, poking his head into rooms as he saw them. He didn't see any Galra anywhere around, which was fortunate. He had been fighting in enough Galra bases, that he had a decent sense of the layout of a base this size.

It wasn't long before Lance found what he had been looking for. The main computer was set up in front of a large glass wall with stars twinkling at him from the other side. On either side of the computer were what looked like comm systems and right in the middle of the room was the main control panel for the base.

It wasn't a very complicated setup.

Lance booted the computer up. He half expected an alert system to start blaring, but nothing happened except for a line of Galra script greeting him 'Hello' on the screen. He found the port to plug his thumbdrive and waited expectantly.

The computer hummed to life, slowly for a second, and then quickly started buzzing. Images flashed up on the screen, quickly, and then disappeared. It was too fast to be able to read more than a word of any text before it was gone. The flash drive appeared to be doing its work.

Lance waited patiently as images continued to flash up on the screen. That's when he heard it.

There was a loud click that came from under the computer, from where the wiring to the ship would have been.

Normally Lance would have ignored it as nothing. His usual relaxed attitude didn't exist on this mission though. A part of him already feared it was a trap, and he didn't want to that to prove to be true. He was going to make it out of there alive, and get back to his friends with new evidence.

Suddenly more nervous than before, he made quick work of prying the panel off from where the noise had come from. Inside was a mess of wires. Lance pushed them aside, careful not to accidentally detach anything, and what he saw made his heart drop into his stomach.

It was a bomb, definitely a bomb. There was a small interface with a countdown clock connecting to a circular device. It was wired back into the base's main systems. Lance had never seen a Galra bomb before, but he was absolutely positive it looked like that.

He stumbled away from the computer, falling backwards onto his butt. This was not good. He didn't know how powerful the bomb would be, but it was definitely powerful enough to blast a hole through the glass wall behind the computer, and probably powerful enough to kill him if he were inside the room when it went off. If the wiring was any indication, there were likely more devices aboard the base, possibly enough to set off blasts regardless of where he was.

He had to get out of there, and fast.

Lance glanced at his thumbdrive, wondering if it had the information he needed on it already. Then an image flashed up on screen, and for the second time in a few minutes, Lance's heart plummeted into his stomach.

The image had been on screen for less than a second, but it was more than enough time for Lance to recognize Shiro. Words scrolled across the screen, detailing the image that had showed up before.

Lance glanced down at the countdown timer. He couldn't read Galra well enough to understand everything, but he could understand that the speed of the numbers meant that he had less than a minute to get off of the base.

He silently prayed to Pidge's program to hurry up and collect the information. He watched what was popping up on the screen, trying to gauge when he could pull the plug. More Galra words flashed on the screen. He caught the words "clone" and "Voltron".

Forty seconds left.

There was no more time, it had to be enough. He wrenched the thumbdrive from the computer and took off down the hall.

Thirty seconds left.

He could see where his ship was docked far down the hall. The base's door was closed, and would take a few seconds to open.

Twenty seconds left.

Lance swung his bayard around and took a shot at the control panel. The laser blast hit, electricity whirred, and the door began to open.

Ten seco-

A blast shook the space station. It threw Lance off balance, into one of the hallway's walls. His bayard was flung from his grip, taking the thumbdrive with it.

It was over. Lance had been wrong about the amount of time it would take for the bomb to go off, it would cause his death, and now the information he had needed was gone too.

"No!" He yelled through his gritted teeth, scrambling back to his feet. He could hear more bombs going off behind him, as he dashed to his ship.

He flung himself through the doors, slamming his fist into the button to close the docking connector.

 _A wormhole jump!_ It was his only option, it might get him away from the ship in time.

The dashboard lit up, he didn't wait for the lights to fully engage before he was pressing buttons. "Please... _please…"_

He didn't care where, anywhere away from here would work. The wormhole lit up outside the spacecraft.

He pushed the steering forward, right as a final blast rocked the craft hard enough to fling Lance away from the controls.

Lance heard a crack as his head slammed against something in the back of the ship. He felt sharp pain. His vision went white, and then black.

Nothing.

* * *

 **A/N:** Whew, for a second there I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish this chapter tonight.

Suprise Me: You're totally right, all the bad things happen when Keith is not around!

Happy space travels!


	7. Chapter 6

The communicator button on his suit lit up. It surprised him. Who would be communicating with him now? He clicked it to accept the message.

A familiar face stared back at him. "Shiro?"

"Keith."

"What's going on...I…" Keith was about to tell him about his discussion with Lance, but something stopped him. Lance had been acting weird, and talking about Shiro, so maybe it was best to try to figure out what that had been about before telling Shiro anything.

"Keith, there's been...well...a fight."

"What?"

"Look...I need you to come back to the castle." Shiro paused. "Permanently."

"Wait, Shiro, what's going on?"

"Just finish up whatever you're doing with the Blade and come back, alright?"

"Shir-" The communication cut out before Keith had finished saying, "-o?"

Keith was left with a terrible feeling in his stomach. Something was wrong.

Something was _very_ wrong.

It took a day and a half for Keith to finish up his work for the Blade. It took another half of a day for him to reach the Castle. The entire time Keith hadn't been able to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he would toss and turn or was wracked with nightmares about what could have happened to make Shiro call him back.

The castle greeted him by opening its hangar for Keith to land in. He hopped out of his ship and pulled off his helmet the moment he was able to.

Allura greeted him with a hug. "Keith, I'm so glad you're here."

He studied her face. She looked weary, as though she had gotten as little sleep as he had the past couple days. That was concerning, but not the worst case scenario.

Keith looked up at the lions. All five of them were there, and looked to be in perfect condition. There was no visible damage to any of their hulls, only a few scratches here and there that were just from the hazards of flying around in space.

Red stared down at him, just as perfect as always. He noticed that Red had a few more scratches than the other lions. He'd have to talk to Lance about being more careful with her.

He was comforted to see Red there with all of the lions. The worst of Keith's nightmares had proven to be untrue, and a sea of relief washed over him. He hadn't wanted to put words to his fears and jinx them into truth somehow, but now he wouldn't have to.

"Allura, what's going on? Shiro mentioned something about a fight, but that was all he said."

"Ah...well, yes I suppose that's true. We've all been waiting for you to be able to discuss it. Lance is...well...he's gone."

Keith's throat was suddenly dry. Red was in the hangar, that was supposed to mean Lance was alive, right? "G-gone?"

"Oh, Keith." She saw the sudden fearful look in his eye, and squeezed his shoulder. "It's not like that. It's, well, come to the common room. Shiro will tell you about everything."

Keith tried to get himself to relax on the walk there. He breathed deep breaths, but the anxiety continued to ramp up in his veins. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears.

Everyone was waiting inside the common room, but instead of the usual chatter there was nothing but silence. Shiro stood with his arms crossed, frowning. Matt was frowning too. Coran looked upset, and for the first time Keith could remember his mustache looked unkempt. Pidge was patting Hunk on the back, it was clear Hunk had been crying. His eyes were puffy.

Keith zeroed in on Lotor. He was the only one in the room that looked completely calm. He was sitting on the couches, nonchalantly filing his nails. Keith noticed a fading bruise under his eye.

Keith cleared his throat. "Alright, I'm here, can someone please tell me what's going on?"

The team looked up at him. None of them looked in good enough condition to be having a long conversation. So it was hardly a surprise when it was Lotor who answered, not bothering to look up from his nails. "Lance left."

The team shot Lotor a glare.

"What do you mean he left?" Keith asked.

This time it was Shiro who answered. "We had a fight, and then a couple mornings ago we woke up and he had left."

"No, Lance wouldn't just leave. He promised me-" It suddenly felt too personal for Keith to tell them that Lance had told him he would look out for all of them. He swallowed.

"Well he _DID_ leave. So now we have to deal with that, okay?"

Allura led Keith to a seat on the couch. "I don't get it." He sunk into the cushions.

Allura responded softly. "Shiro said some things he didn't mean, and Lance took it personally. He left with one of the smaller ships. We don't know where he went, but his note made it clear he wasn't coming back."

Pidge added loudly, glaring at Shiro while still patting hunk on the back. "Shiro told Lance that he shouldn't be a part of Voltron."

Keith inhaled.

Shiro, for the first time in Keith's memory seemed defensive. "I apologized right afterward, and told him I didn't mean it."

"He to-ook all his stuff. W-e don't even have anything to re-member him by." Hunk's statement was wracked by sobs.

"Look, team. I know this is sad, but we've got to keep ourselves together. We're in the middle of a war, and could need to fight the Galra at any moment. We have to be prepared." Shiro's voice was back to its normal commanding leader tone.

"Can I see the note?" Keith's voice was quieter than he meant it to be.

Wordlessly, Shiro handed it over.

"

 _Thanks for everything, everyone, but it's time for me to leave Voltron._

 _These past few days I've figured out that my own goals aren't aligning to Voltron's anymore. I'm not who I was a few months ago. I'm going to find my own path in the universe now. Don't be too mad at Shiro, he was right. If I can't trust him than I shouldn't be a paladin._

 _Give Keith a big hug from me, let him know I kept Red's seat warm._

 _I'm not coming back. Good luck with fighting the Galra, i know you'll win._

 _Sorry about leaving like this, but I knew if I left during the day you all would find a way to stop me._

 _Lance_

"

The note had his name at the bottom, but something about it felt so unlike him. Maybe it was the part about giving Keith a hug. Keith couldn't remember Lance ever giving him a hug, not that he would have minded. Maybe it was a message?

But the rest of it felt so stiff and uncharacteristic of him. Although, the conversation Lance had with Keith a few days before had also felt strange for Lance. Had Lance really unravelled this quickly?

Keith thought back to right after Shiro had come back. Lance had come to Keith's room and asked him if he should be the one to leave team Voltron. Keith had noticed Lance's doubt in himself. In that moment Keith had seen just how much Lance needed Voltron.

Could Lance's insecurities have gotten so bad so quickly? It wasn't impossible. Lance was good at pretending to be fine, even happy. He constantly lifted the team's spirits up. Maybe they'd all neglected how much Lance needed someone to lift his spirits up too.

Besides, if the note wasn't Lance's, what other possibility was there?

Keith wracked his brain to recall the conversation he'd had with Lance only a few days before. Lance had said that Shiro hadn't sounded like Shiro. What had he meant by that? It was possible he was talking about Shiro's criticism of him, but Lance had sounded too serious for that.

The only other possibility was that this was some plan of Lotor's. Lance had said that Lotor was up to something. What if Lance had gotten a bit too close to the truth?

Lotor wouldn't be able to get rid of Lance on his own, not with how many eyes were watching him. He would have needed an inside man.

Keith's eyes subconsciously flicked to Shiro.

If Lance had been right, Keith would need to investigate. He had to be careful about it.

"Okay," Keith said, still looking at Shiro, "I agree with Shiro, we need to be prepared."

Keith silently vowed to figure out what had happened to Lance, and save him from whatever fate. _Lance will be okay._

Keith refused to entertain the possibility that Lance was anything but alive.

* * *

The team didn't feel right without Lance. There was less laughter, less joy.

When someone struggled, there was no one there to tell them _exactly_ what they needed to hear to feel better. Keith tried to fill in the gap, but his assurances felt stiff and lifeless compared to what Lance could do.

After a few days, they had gotten some kind of rhythm down. It wasn't the same, would never be the same, but it was something. They could defend against Zarkon at least.

After a week, they had to put it to a test.

A nearby planet was flagging them down for help. The Galra had been enslaving a planet of fish people, who sent a distress beacon hoping to be rescued.

"Alright team," Shiro said with all his authority, "it should be a standard rescue mission."

The plan was for Red, Black, and Blue to fly in first. Allura would use her ice canon to freeze the Galra encampments so that they could not move. Keith and Shiro would destroy any Galra ships that managed to get off of the ground.

Green and Yellow would join in with the Fish people's forces and focus on keeping the citizens safe by whatever means necessary. The backup plan was to form Voltron if things got too tough.

Keith mused as he was piloting that Lance would have loved this planet. He was always talking about some beach back on Earth, and he was sure the planet would have filled his friend with happy memories.

The paladins moved fast, executing the plan well. Within a few minutes they'd managed to destroy half of the Galra encampments.

Suddenly Keith felt scenes being pushed into his mind. He pushed back, finding its source.

"Hey, everyone, I think Red's trying to tell me something!" Keith opened his mind to her, letting her fill his senses.

He saw what looked like an abandoned Galra base. It was charred and burnt, like it had been destroyed in a terrible accident. Keith shook the scene from his head, pushing her forward so that she continued to attack the Galra in the air.

 _Why would Red show me this?_

He questioned her, and she pushed more scenes into his mind. It looked like he was inside the base this time. The charred black interior had nothing to show. Pieces of charred rubbish floated through the hallways.

Keith questioned Red again. He felt her stir, as though she was saying, "look." He listened to her, looking around the scene she was feeding him.

And then his heart stopped.

Floating in the hallway was a red bayard.

"Lance!" He yelled it out loud over the comms.

"Keith-what-" Shiro yelled back.

But Keith was already flying away from the planet, determined. He had a clue, finally. Keith just hoped he wasn't too late. If Lance was still at the base, he would be in bad condition. _Or…_ his inner monologue supplied ... _he'll be dead._

He wouldn't think that. Keith couldn't think that. He sped into the air, begging his lion to go faster.

"Keith! Where are you going!? We need your help!" It was Pidge, they sounded distressed.

The voice jolted Keith back into the present. He couldn't just rush off to find Lance. There were citizens in danger, who needed his help. _Besides, there's no way to tell if Lance needs any ones help anymore._

"Sorry! Let's finish this quickly." He hated himself for not rushing to save Lance. Hated that his hands were tied by his duty.

"Alright, team. Form Voltron!" Shiro's voice rang out over the comms.

* * *

 **A/N:** I think I might be getting a little bit too caught up in my own story. Sometimes I accidentally type Shiro's name as Shirpo, and the last time I did it I yelled at my computer screen "That's right, you're NOT Shiro you lying b*$t#rd!"

Needless to say, I'm a little over exuberant.

Also, on a happy note, most of the next chapter is already written, so the update should be earlier than usual tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 7

Hours later the fight was over, and Keith was finally given the time to think about what Red had shown him. As the rest of the paladins made their way to the common room, he pulled Allura aside.

"Keith!? What happened?" Allura asked him.

"I...uh...I think Red was trying to tell me where Lance is." He kept his voice low, so that only Allura could hear. Talking about it was dangerous though. If Keith was right that Lance hadn't run away but had walked into a trap instead, that meant that knowing where Lance was could prove dangerous for himself too.

If Lotor and Shiro were in on it, they would know exactly where Lance was already.

"What?!" Allura blurted out.

"Shhh…" Keith said, "I'm not sure if that's what Red was trying to tell me, and I can't really give any other details right now, okay? Something's wrong about it all, and I don't want the others to know."

Keith already worried that he'd told Allura too much. She looked at him with concern.

"I understand not wanting to tell the others because it might upset them." She glanced over his shoulder at Hunk. "But don't you think it would be a good idea to let Shiro know? This information might prove useful in some way."

"No!" He said it too fast for it not to sound suspicious to Allura. He wracked his brain for an excuse. "No, it's just that...Shiro already feels like Lance leaving was his fault. I'm not sure he could make any rational decisions about it right now."

"So, what? Are you going to track Lance down by yourself? I'm not sure that's a good idea Keith. He left. He didn't sound like he wanted to be found. It might make the entire situation that much worse." Allura was trying to be a good sport, and with the lack of information she had she was being rational.

"Look, I know this sounds like a bad idea, or at least not like the best idea. But I don't think Red would give me this information unless she wanted me to act on it."

Allura frowned, not saying anything for a moment. "Okay, I suppose I understand that. But what are you going to do Keith?"

"I'm going to go find Lance, and you're going to help me."

* * *

The plan was set. Allura would set up a wormhole jump to the star system Red had shown Keith. Keith would have 15 doboshes to be on the other side of the system to find Lance and wormhole back, or she would tell the others and send backup.

If anyone asked, Allura would say it was some sort of training exercise she and Keith had come up together.

Keith had needed to work with Allura for the wormhole jump, but she was a frustrating partner in crime. Originally she had only wanted to give him 5 doboshes on the other side of the wormhole, but he'd managed to negotiate her up from there.

They set everything up. Keith would take Red. Since Red was the only one that seemed to know information about Lance's whereabouts, she could prove useful. He worried about not taking a more stealthy craft. In the end, though, he knew taking Red was the best option. He could use the backup.

Keith got set up with his paladin armor, about to head up to the cockpit. Allura stopped him.

"15 doboshes. I won't give you a tick of more time. You will get back here, do you understand?" She said it sternly.

He nodded in agreement.

She paused for a second, considering, before squeezing him tightly in a hug. "Keith, I know how important Lance is to you. If anyone can bring him back I know it's you. But don't let your emotions get out of control either. Keep a clear head."

She said it like there was subtext that only Keith was supposed to understand.

He nodded again. "See you soon Allura."

Looking back at his lion, he steeled himself for the journey and for what he might find. He would return Lance to the castle, no matter what shape he was in.

The wormhole opened and Keith took off into it. He set a timer on his suit to alert him when 15 doboshes was almost up. _I can do this._

Flying through a wormhole was not unlike being squeezed out of a tube of toothpaste. He shuddered at the odd feeling.

The other side was darker. Different constellations lit up around him, and there was no nearby star to bring much light to the area. It only took him a moment of looking around before he spotted the charred base Red had shown him earlier.

He flew carefully. Red was a much bigger ship than one that would normally dock at the base, so it was difficult to maneuver her in such a way that she could land on the hull without jostling it too much.

Keith wanted it to be as soft of a landing as possible, just in case Lance was inside, injured, but alive. He wouldn't want to make any injuries worse by careless piloting. He set her down gently. Red's claws took hold of the metal under her paws until she was secure. She was too big to properly dock, so he would have to spacewalk into the base.

Keith studied the outside of the base, looking for an opening. Considering the amount of charring on the outside, there were likely any number of breaches Keith could sneak into. He'd just have to find the closest one that he could fit through.

 _There._

Keith made sure his spacesuit was secure before daring to make a jump out to the cold dark abyss of space. He tensed into a ball on the side of Red's hull before pressing himself off hard towards the direction of the hole.

It was quick, and easy to grab ahold of the base's torn exterior. In less than a tick Keith had pulled himself inside.

The base was as quiet as the rest of space. Pieces of metal floated past his field of vision, bumping into his suit and into the walls. Screws and washers that had come loose from the blasts did the same. He brushed them out of his face, looking around carefully.

Occasionally bigger pieces of metal floated by. So much of the ship was mangled and charred, Keith feared what state he'd find Lance in. The reality of the damage was so much worse than he had recalled in Red's visions.

Keith searched from room to room, always careful to watch the time. Finally he saw it.

Floating in the room, in the midst of the wreckage, casually bumping against the walls, was a red bayard. Keith's heart skipped a beat as he flew through the air towards it.

 _Success!_ He smiled, excited for a moment, before his heart sunk again. Where was its paladin?

Keith grabbed the bayard out of the air, testing it in his palms. It was definitely his bayard, the one he had given to Lance when they switched lions. He formed it into the sword and slashed through the air through a pipe that was floating near him. It was just as strong and sharp as it always had been.

The excitement of having the bayard back wasn't worth the anxiety it left coursing through him.

As though the bayard could read his thoughts it transformed into the large bubbly gun that it had last been in Lance's hands. Keith snorted, couldn't believe that a bayard could make a joke. He raised it as though to shoot it, but nothing about it felt right in his hands. It was too big and bulky, and he wasn't used to shooting guns anyway.

Something about it sent a shiver down Keith's spine though. Keith sighed. He missed the bayard's former paladin. He took a second to curl himself around the weapon, wishing that he was curling around someone else instead. His eyes brimmed with tears.

He fought them back. _I am NOT going to get emotional._ He had promised Allura as much, and he still had a mission to complete. He dropped the gun to his side, transforming it back into a bayard, and attached it to his hip.

Keith would have expected Lance to be near his bayard. _Or at least, his body to be nearby._

He didn't see anyone though, or any clues as to where someone could have gone. It was time to figure out what happened.

The burn marks on the wall were all the same direction. They came from what had probably been a computer at one point.

If the blast had come from that direction, then Lance would have been thrown down the hall. Keith rushed to follow the charred marks.

 _Why would a computer self destruct strong enough to destroy an entire base?_

Keith had suspected a trap, but seeing the evidence was an entirely different experience. He followed the marks all the way to a docking port. The gate was open to the darkness of space.

His hand grazed over the control panel for the door. Charred marks covered the surface, but they were different from the ones that covered the rest of the station. These ones came from a smaller blast, with a more focused point of origin. It looked like a blaster mark.

Keith glanced to the bayard by his hip. If Lance had been running away from the blasts, he might have shot the panel to force the door to open. Of course only Lance would do something so reckless and stupid. What if the blast had forced the door shut instead? Lance would have been completely trapped.

There wasn't a ship docked to the other side of the port. Keith wondered if there had been at one point. He peeked his head through, careful to maintain a grip on the base's wall. Keith wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he immediately saw how mangled the docking mechanism looked. It didn't look like a blast had caused it damage, but like a spaceship had been trying to fly away without properly unlocking itself from the mechanism.

Keith prayed that had been Lance's escape route. He couldn't find anything else to suggest Lance was anywhere aboard.

Keith's heart sunk further, realizing with each passing dobosh that he wasn't going to find Lance, and wasn't sure where to start looking for him. But an escape meant Lance was probably alive.

Keith had only one other thing to do, figure out why Lance was at that base to begin with. He went the opposite direction, away from the open port, following the burn marks the other way. It took him to what looked like the command center.

Inside was a large cracked glass wall and a completely blasted apart computer in the middle. According to Keith's suit he only had another 5 doboshes to inspect, he would have to make it quick.

He pulled the panel underneath the blast open. It was surprisingly easy to pull off, having been damaged. There were a load of wires underneath. Keith couldn't make sense of any of them, he wasn't an engineer like Hunk. Inspecting further he could see there was definitely something off about where the explosion had started. A bomb had certainly been added to the space, probably setting off a chain reaction.

 _But what was Lance looking for?_ There had to be something here that he thought was important. There had to be information somewhere.

If Lance had been standing at a computer when the blast went off, he was probably trying to find some piece of information that had been hidden inside it. Keith didn't see any sort of drive plugged into the computer that Lance would have hooked up.

As though fate was guiding his eyes, Keith noticed something small glinting near one of the pipes. He pushed off the ground just hard enough to be able to control his speed. He reached out his hand and grabbed at the piece of metal. He opened his palm to look at it.

It was a partially burnt thumbdrive. The plastic part was melted into the metal, if Keith hadn't been looking for a drive he would have missed it completely. There probably wasn't any data on the drive anymore, but then again, Keith had seen Pidge do some pretty incredible things with limited technology, so he took it anyway.

He inspected the site for last few minutes trying to find anything else, but with no luck.

Finally he headed back to his lion. Outside the base he touched his hand to her nose and choked out "Please just tell me that Lance is alive."

She didn't respond. He hoped that just meant that she was unsure, and not the other possibility.

He climbed back aboard and set up a return wormhole. Keith hadn't gained much information from the trip, but he inventoried what he now knew.

Lance had disappeared because he was caught in a trap.

Lance was probably alive.

Something on that thumbdrive was important.

Allura was waiting for him expectantly when he got back.

"I thought you weren't going to make it in time!" She hugged him again. "Where's Lance?"

Keith grimaced at the question. "I don't know."

* * *

Lance was floating in the most relaxing pool ever. His head was spinning a bit, a dull ache at the base of his neck also concerned him. Lance wondered if he'd had too much to drink. He couldn't remember.

His ears started picking up a dull beeping sound. _Is that my alarm?_ Lance shook his head. _That wouldn't make sense, I'm in a pool, not in my bed._

He opened his eyes, expecting to see the clear blue sky of his childhood, but it was dark, painted, metal that greeted him instead.

A million thoughts started racing through his head in a panic. _Maybe I'm in a hospital. Maybe I just woke up out of the Matrix. Maybe I've been abducted by aliens…_

Suddenly the past several months all came flooding back. Hunk and Pidge at the Garrison. Rescuing Shiro with Keith. Piloting space lions. Allura and Coran and the castle. The Galra Empire. Lotor.

"Shit." His head _hurt_. He must have gotten knocked unconscious by the blast. He was alive though, that meant he'd managed to hyperjump. He'd gotten away.

The lack of gravity was a problem though. Lance tried to swing his arms to propel himself through the air. He needed to get to the controls in order to see what was causing the beeping. _A little history lesson: beeping noises while in space are never a good thing._ He just hoped the beeping didn't mean he was about to run out of oxygen.

Contorting his body and kicking through the air he finally managed to turn himself around. _Hunk was right. This isn't fun. And is so much more difficult than swimming._

His boot finally made contact with the ceiling and he kicked backward hard. He flew through the air toward the controls, almost missing them. His hand just managed to grab at one of the levers on the dashboard.

"Alright!" For a moment Lance turned around expecting to high five someone. Then he remembered that he was alone. In space.

Focussing back on his task he pressed some buttons and the computer lit up. "Computer, run diagnostics."

A machine voice spoke back to him. "Running diagnostics...There are 113 problems found with this vessel, would you like them listed alphabetically, by category, or by importance?"

"Uuugh...by importance please." Lance hardly wanted to admit it to himself but this was not good, not good at all.

The computer listed off issues, most of them were cosmetic or small problems, Lance could deal with those easily. The bigger problems were the communication systems, the gravity, and the lack of altean magic. There wasn't enough to make a jump back to the castle, and without a functioning comm system no way to call for help either.

"Alright Lancey-Lance, what's the plan?" Somehow talking out loud made things easier. "I've gotta find the real Shiro, and either get back to or warn the castle about Lotor somehow." He paused, this was not going to be easy, "That means I've got to fix the ship. I really hope there's an inhabited planet nearby and I really really hope it's not Galra."

Lance pulled up the navigation systems on the computer. "Computer, please find the closest inhabited planet for me."

After a few seconds a diagram of the planet lit up the computer screen. Lance's eyes widened while the computer whirred on.

"The closest inhabited planet is Earth."

* * *

 **A/N:** I said I would get this one out early today and I did it! Happy reading! :)

On another note, this next chapter is a bit of a beast. I'm not sure I'll be able to update it on Saturday, and if I don't you'll have to wait until Monday at least, since I was going to take Sunday off for my health.

Suprise Me: No worries, I'm a student, so it's only distracting me from my studies. ;)


	9. Chapter 8

The irony of being back on Earth, for Lance, was to discover all over again what if felt like to be far away from home.

Lance had definitely missed Earth. He missed his family. He missed the beach, his family's farm, and the Garrison. He missed weather patterns that made sense. And, by god, did he miss the food.

But over the course of months and months of being in space, the castle had become his home. His friends, his lion, his role as defender of the universe were part of his identity now. He wanted to be back among the stars so much that his chest ached thinking about it.

"Well," he said to no one in particular as he landed his spaceship in a cropping of trees near Varadero beach, "guess I'm taking a forced vacation for now."

It may not have been his choice to get forcibly blasted to the other side of the universe, but he might as well enjoy it while he could.

Keeping the cloaking engaged, Lance was reminded once again how thankful he was for Pidge, when he stepped out of the craft. They had single handedly worked through every spacecraft on the ship to ensure that each one had the most advanced cloaking systems.

Pidge hadn't touched any of the lions other than Green, though. Apparently, most of the lions were extremely picky about new technology being added to their systems. Lance figured Blue probably would have been okay with it, but Allura hadn't wanted to 'upset the balance.'

Lance gave himself a reminder to give Pidge a hug if-when he got back to the castle. He tried not to think about what a difficult journey it would be to get back. It might even be impossible. Lance had no idea how compatible Earth technology would be with the Altean spacecraft, and he wasn't sure exactly where to begin with it anyway.

He figured he'd start by going home.

The walk felt so familiar to Lance. He had done it hundreds of times over the years. He plodded up the path, relaxing more with every footstep. The air smelled musty from the trees, and salty from the nearby ocean, it was perfect.

It wasn't long before he stood in front of his former doorstep. He could hear kid's laughter coming from the back.

"Lance?" A voice spoke from behind him. He spun around to face her.

She was carrying a bag of groceries, which she dropped when she saw him. There was a crunch as it fell, certainly some of whatever was in there had broken, but she didn't seem to notice or care at the moment.

"Aleja!" Lance immediately ran to his sister and encompassed her in a hug. "I've missed you!"

"Lance!" She said again, this time with astonishment in her voice.

"It's been so long! Where's mamá? I wanted to see her first!"

"Lance-" She pulled away from him to look him in the eye. Her face was red and blotchy, eyes filled with tears. "What are you doing here? How are you alive?"

"What do you mean?" He let her go from the hug. "I know I've been gone, but I wasn't dead."

She looked at him more closely, suddenly speaking. "You're taller now." She measured his height against her own. "And stronger." She pulled at his biceps. "Still lanky though, you know Abuela's gonna tell you that you need to eat more."

"I know. I've lived through her berating me for worse."

"That's true. Troublemaker." She poked him hard in the ribs. Laughing, but still looking on the edge of tears.

Lance winced. The breeze felt nice on his skin. It was a beautiful day in..."Aleja, what month is it?"

Aleja looked at him strangely. "It's April, dummy, where have you been that you don't know the months anymore?"

"I've...I've kind of been in space this whole time."

"What?!"

"It's kind of a long story. I can tell you about it later." Lance tilted his head, thinking. "If it's April, that means you're supposed to be in school right now."

"I finished the semester early...so...so that I could come home and help. Mamá's been away for too long, the farm's been going into disrepair without her around. Tio Lao and Tia Novia came to help during the school year, but I asked my professors if I could take exams early so that I could get back here faster."

"You? You wanting to be home rather than at school? Who are you and what have you done to my sister?"

"Ha ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes.

"Aleja, in all seriousness, you make it sound like mamá's been away for months."

"She's been away almost as long as you have."

Lance took a sharp intake of breath. "Why? Why would she do that?"

"Why don't you sit down and have something to eat? I'll tell you all about it while you're eating. You have a lot to tell me as well."

The moment the two siblings went inside chaos ensued. It took at least an hour of greetings, hugs, tears of relief, children running around and playing, before the house was calm enough to have any sort of conversation take place.

Lance took the opportunity to explain about his adventures from the time they rescued Shiro onward. Often times Aleja would look at Lance eyebrows raised, unbelieving, used to her brother embellishing even the most insignificant detail. On those occasions Lance would raise his hands up and say, "I'm being completely honest." To which she would reply, "Right," before he continued his tale.

By the end, Aleja looked concerned. A large part of her wanted to believe the story had just been her brother making things up. He looked too serious for that though. She waited for him to say "just kidding," and break into a smile, but it never came.

The Galra were real, and the universe was in trouble.

"So now it's your turn," Lance prompted, "what's happened since I left?"

* * *

Growing up Lance had been constantly competitive. All of his siblings were.

They would race everywhere, trying to figure out who was the fastest or the strongest. It was somehow always his younger brother, Quito. They would see who could find the most interesting bugs or plants. His sister Xandria would outshine them all, finding something incredibly unique but also somehow knowing information about what it was and how it could be used, eventually turning that love of nature into a love of medicine.

In school Aleja outshined everyone in math and science, easily gravitating toward computers and technology. While Lance's older brother Kosmo gravitated towards debate instead, exceptional at history and memorization.

Lance's two youngest siblings, Tajo and Celeste, were perhaps the most gifted of all of them, each being able to play musical instruments and draw well, while also doing incredible in school, no subject to difficult or beyond their grasp. Celeste was also the best storyteller of their family, a born novelist, while Tajo was language oriented, already knowing how to speak more languages than Lance had even known existed.

And Lance was...well, he was Lance.

He'd never enjoyed sitting still in school. Trying to pay attention to what teachers was saying was far less interesting than gazing out the windows at the sky. He liked science, but when learning about chemical compositions he was more interested on what would happen if two chemicals mixed rather than on memorizing the periodic table.

Blowing up the kitchen at the Garrison had hardly been the first school building he had accidentally lit on fire.

He hadn't ever failed science, but he had come close a few times. The rest of his grades were equally as shabby.

Growing up, Lance had found a fondness with technology. When he was seven he had begged his parents for the newest gaming console for months. They finally caved, and Lance spent the next month in his room, kicking butt and taking names in Run of Vengeance and Cosmocell. The rest of his family weren't sure what the big deal was, but to Lance it was the first time he had experienced sharpshooting and space. Something about it called to him.

Lance would never forget the first time he saw a spaceship. He was 10 and it was career week at his school. Kids would bring in family members who had interesting jobs. Lance's father had volunteered for the day, telling kids what it was like to run a farm.

Lance had shrunk behind his desk out of sheer embarrassment. So many other kids had parents who had really interesting jobs, but here his dad was explaining to everyone how to milk a cow.

"And my son Lance, and his siblings, already help us out in the fields. One day I hope he'll take care of the farm." He had looked at Lance with such fondness.

Lance shrunk even deeper in his desk when his dad finished his presentation and came to sit next to him. Lance wasn't sure what he wanted to do, wasn't really good at anything, but he definitely didn't want to live on a farm for the rest of his life.

One of the other parents was part of the space program. She explained all about the stars, and the research that needed to be developed in space. Her eyes lit up while she spoke, in childlike wonder over the science and technology that was needed to get people to fly to the stars.

Lance had perked up while she was talking. He drank in her elation at the mention of exploring the skies. He felt his heart thrum with the idea of high stakes adventures in deep space.

As a special treat the entire class was invited on a field trip to the space center the next day. Lance was already soaring above the Earth. He had found what he wanted out of life.

Touching the cool metal of a spaceship the next day solidified in Lance's mind what was possible for humanity. He asked ceaseless questions of their tour guide, and ran around looking at all the different models and gadgets that the space station offered.

He asked where he could go to become a pilot. The tour guide told him about the Garrison school in the US, that had the best fighter pilots in the world.

Lance was already there in his mind. He became even more distracted than usual. In the mornings before school, he would drive the tractor through the fields like always. Now though, he pretended he was a pilot, and that was his spaceship. In the process he accidentally destroyed a thousand dollars worth of crops.

Lance's daydreaming got worse, and his grades suffered. He would be playing hide and seek with his siblings, climb into a tree to hide, and then forget all about the game as he stared into the sky for hours. Eventually all his other siblings would get found, and they would call his name well into the night before he'd finally reappear. Another time he had wanted to go faster, more similar to what he would experience as a pilot. He stole his father's car and crashed it into the barn. The car was dented but survived, the barn, however, did parents had no idea what to do with him.

Finally his mamá found a way to give him focus. She looked into the Garrison. It was a challenging school, and Lance was never going to get in with the grades he had. If Lance wanted to be a pilot, he would have to work for it.

Never had a child's personality changed so quickly as Lance's did that next year. He would still daydream, still pretend he was piloting at every waking moment, but now he was studying too.

Lance asked Aleja for help studying. When she wasn't available he would ask one of his other siblings. He learned about technology and engineering, about math and computer science. He read book after book, trying to will himself to get smarter.

Slowly it worked. He improved. He still made huge mistakes and would fail the occasional test, but it was much less frequent. His mamá would give him hugs and tell him how proud she was. For the first time ever Lance's tests would end up hung up on the fridge. Sure, they were A minuses, which never looked quite as nice as the red plus sign next to all of Aleja's tests, but they were A's all the same.

As Lance got older and his dreams became closer, he also realized how far away they were. The Garrison was incredibly competitive. There was no guarantee that he would be able to become a fighter pilot. So few spots in each class were given to fighter pilots. Lance would have to beat out kids who were a lot smarter than him. He would have to make up for brains with sheer skill.

There wasn't a lot of opportunity to practice piloting when you're a teenager in Cuba, so Lance had to make due with video games and theory. He hoped that it would be enough.

One night Lance was daydreaming in his favorite tree. It was close enough to the house to hear what was going on inside if he wanted to pay attention, but difficult enough to climb that no one would try looking for him there. On that particular night he heard his parents arguing in the kitchen.

It was about him. It was always about him.

His papá was clearly frustrated. "You can't just get Lance's hopes up, he's never going to be a pilot at that school."

"I don't see why not. He's worked so hard, he has the grades." His mamá was on the defensive.

"Maybe he has the grades to get in, but he doesn't have the grades for a scholarship like the others. We can't afford that school, even if he could get in. You shouldn't get his hopes up."

"We'll find a way. Our other children are living their dreams. Aleja and Xandria are both studying in colleges abroad. And Cosmo is in one here in Cuba that he loves. There's no reason Lance shouldn't be able to live his dream too."

"Lance just _isn't_ as smart as them. He's not as good at school as they are. He's like me. Practical. He can work with his hands. He should become a farmer. Becoming a pilot is a pipe dream." Lance's father was turning red from anger.

"I'm not going to stop our boy from pursuing his dreams. He's worked too hard. He's going to the Garrison, do you understand?" She ended the conversation with the flick of her wrist before leaving for the other room.

In the tree Lance sighed. His heart ached. His father had been right about one thing. Lance _wasn't_ as smart as his siblings, but that didn't mean he couldn't work twice as hard as they had.

He returned to his studies with renewed vigor. His younger siblings noticed. Lance played less often, daydreamed less frequently. And the next year, it all paid off.

He had been accepted to the Garrison. His mamá found a way to make everything work. She organized a fundraiser in the community. Some people donated money just so that they could be rid of Lance. There had been a few too many accidents from his youth to just be forgotten. He managed to secure a decent grant and financial aid package too.

He caught up with his future roommate on Facebook. They hit it off incredibly well. His name was Hunk and he was from Hawaii. They talked about how much they would miss the beaches and the ocean, and how excited they were about space.

All too suddenly he was kissing his mamá goodbye.

His first month at the Garrison was incredibly tough. His normal studies were nearly torturous in how difficult they were. The math was ten times harder than anything Lance could remember doing in school.

As if his studies weren't difficult enough, adding pilot training into the mix made everything so much worse.

Hours of flight simulators just to find out who in the class would become a fighter pilot and who would become cargo class. It was long and sweaty. Lance would try to joke with the others, trying to lighten the mood. Several of them responded well.

One of them never would. He'd show up, silent, do the flight simulators and all the other tests, and then immediately leave. He never talked to anyone, and didn't seem interested in getting to know anyone either.

His name was Keith and Lance immediately knew two things about him: he was a jerk, and he was undoubtedly the best pilot out of the bunch of them.

It was frustrating for Lance. Keith didn't even seem to care all that much about piloting, and yet was so incredibly gifted. He was like his siblings, just naturally incredible to a point of taking his entire life for granted.

Lance did his best. He would try so hard to be as good as Keith, but his numbers were never as good. His test scores never quite added up to the same. They were on such different levels.

When Lance read the piece of paper that told him he had been assigned cargo class, he was crushed. Lance had tried so hard. He'd put every bit of himself into his work, and he hadn't gotten anything to show for it.

Keith hadn't even seemed to try, and was granted pilot class for it. There was such a huge difference in skill levels between them it was amazing they were from the same species.

Lance contemplated dropping out but he wasn't sure that he could face his father ever again. When it came down to his dream, Lance had failed. Even if his papá stayed silent, there would be that underlying look in his eye of "I told you so."

He stayed at the Garrison, knowing that cargo class was still better than nothing. Lance put his efforts into trying to pretend to be happy about it. He wasn't sure if Hunk bought his act or not.

But then Keith got into trouble and was kicked out. Finally fate was working for Lance. After a few more tests he was reassigned to fighter class.

At the time Lance didn't think there was anything that could bring him back to Earth.

* * *

But now Lance had a part of himself wishing that he had never left Earth in the first place.

Lance listened as Aleja explained the most important things that had happened since he was gone. Lance had disappeared for a week before the Garrison contacted their family. They had explaining that there had been an accident and three students had died, one being Lance. They refused to give any details, only saying that it was top secret. Lance's mother and Hunk's mother had flown to the Garrison, trying to get any details on their sons' disappearances ever since, to no avail.

The first few months of Lance's absence had been hard on everyone. With Lance's mother gone from the farm, his aunt and uncle had tried to step in and help. His older brother had quit school for a semester to be home with the family, and although his two older sisters had gone back to school, neither had done well. Aleja failing her first class ever, although doing okay in the rest, and his other older sister Xandria nearly flunking out entirely and now having to do summer classes to try to stay caught up.

His younger siblings had had it equally as rough. Doing poor in school, getting into fights, causing trouble wherever they could find it. And as if to make matters worse, his Abuela's health had gone in sharp decline over the shock of losing Lance. She had gotten a cough that had nearly killed her, and since then was barely outside of her room.

As Aleja explained how difficult the past year had been for his family, Lance began to tear up. He hadn't realized just how much his disappearance would affect the people in his life. It wasn't like he had planned to leave, it had been necessary.

"Lance, you were like our family's sunlight. Without you, we all wither." Aleja wrapped him in a warm embrace. "I'm so glad you're back."

The last person Aleja talked about was their father. He had been strangely absent from the house the entire time they had been talking.

"He'll come home eventually. He always does, just smelling more and more like liquor and tobacco every day." Aleja sighed, still holding him.

"Aleja, I've got to go to the Garrison to get mamá." He pulled away from her embrace.

"And just how do you expect to get to the Garrison in the middle of the night?" She scoffed at him, like he was being completely ridiculous.

"I've got a spaceship." He got up and brushed himself off, heading towards the door, before turning back to her. "Are you coming?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Come in, Star Command.

Trying to write all these OC characters is hard. God I wish I could have gone into more detail about what I imagine for Hunk's family. Soon, maybe?

Thank you for your reviews, they give me life!


	10. Chapter 9

"He wasn't there, but I found this." Keith pulled the bayard from his hip to show Allura. "The base was clearly rigged with explosives. I think it was a trap."

Allura let out a small gasp. "Do you think-do you think he's okay?"

"Unhurt? I'm not sure. But I think he's alive. It looked like there had been an escape route, and I couldn't find any evidence to suggest otherwise." Keith was having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. He tried to keep his voice even.

"Where would we have gone? Where do you think we should check?" Allura looked at him expectantly, as though Keith was suddenly an expert on tracking Lance.

"I don't know-" Keith's legs suddenly felt unstable. Allura noticed and caught him as he collapsed into her. The tears Keith has so long held back started flowing. "Allura! I don't know what to do."

She patted his shoulder, holding him gently. "It's okay Keith. We'll find him."

They were both silent for a moment, thinking.

Allura began first. "Well...we should tell the others. If Lance was in a trap that means that Lotor had to be behind it somehow. We've got to warn them."

She motioned to him to move forward. Keith grabbed her shoulder tightly.

"Allura, wait. Think through this for a second. Lotor never would have been alone long enough to set the trap or to forge a note from Lance."

Allura gasped again. "But...but that means."

Keith nodded. "Lotor couldn't have been acting alone."

"But who-"

"I don't have any proof, which is why I haven't said anything, but Lance suspected Shiro…"

"What? How do you know?" Allura was whispering now, keeping her voice low even though she was shocked.

"Lance contacted me before he disappeared. I could tell something was wrong, but he wouldn't explain what was going on. He asked me if Shiro was acting strangely and said that he'd overheard something." Why hadn't Keith called him back after he hung up? He should have demanded answers.

"What did he overhear?"

"I don't know...but I think he was right."

Allura released a long slow breath. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"I guess try to prove it. There was-there was one other thing that I found at the base." Keith pulled out the fried flashdrive. "Hopefully it will clue us into why Lance was at the base at all."

"It's worth looking into. We've got to track down Pidge."

It felt good, running around the castle with something to do. It helped keep Keith's mind off of Lance.

So instead, Keith's mind thought of Shiro.

* * *

Keith had first met Shiro in the Nevada Military Police Captain's office. He was 13.

It wasn't exactly an unusual place for Keith to be found. He knew all of the officers, and they all knew him too. He probably even would have been friends with them, if Keith wasn't always in there in handcuffs.

So it wasn't exactly unusual for Keith to be handcuffed to a table after stealing a military cruiser. What was unusual was Takashi Shirogane.

"Hey, kid." Keith was used to getting yelled at by angry adults who he had wronged in some way or another, but Shiro seemed more amused than anything else. "That was daring of you."

Keith was surprised. He didn't know what to say to the guy. He looked older than Keith by quite a few years, but still a teenager. He elected to stay silent.

"Where did you learn to fly like that?"

Keith just shrugged. The shrug was about as accurate as anything he could have said. He'd been flying for a long time, it had interested him forever. The first time he stole one though, it was out from under the nose of one of his foster parents. The man had been particularly abusive towards Keith and the other kids that day, and Keith did the only thing he knew how to do to teach the man a lesson. It landed him in juvie the first time.

"Talkative...got it. I gotta say though, I was impressed. If you honed that skill, instead of using it for a few joyrides I imagine you could be one of the best pilots in the galaxy."

Keith narrowed his eyes at him. People this nice to him always wanted something.

"The name's Shiro. You stole my cruiser."

Shiro held out his hand to shake, but Keith just looked at it for a second before jangling the cuffs on his wrist.

"Ah, gotcha. Hopefully you'll be out of those in a second."

Keith narrowed his eyes again. As though anything in the police station took that short of time.

Sure enough, though, the Captain showed up a couple seconds later.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Shirogane. What can I do for you?"

Keith nearly choked at the mention of the name. Shirogane was a famous up and coming pilot. The sudden realization made him choke a bit. Keith was in bigger trouble than he thought.

"Oh, that's alright. I was actually hoping to talk to you about this young man here." Shiro motioned to Keith.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, too much. We've taken care of it. He's in big trouble. I think they're gonna ship him out of state even."

With each word Keith's heart sank. He liked Utah, and he liked the foster family he was currently with, it had just been an unlucky set of circumstances that lead him into trouble.

Shiro spoke. "Well actually I was hoping you'd drop the charges."

"What?!" Keith and the captain spoke at the same time. Keith's eyes were wide with the unfamiliar territory.

"Well, I just think it's a huge waste when he's clearly a talented kid. Besides, the cruiser getting stolen was honestly my fault, not his. I'm the one that left it unlocked. I'm the one that should get punished." He smiled sheepishly and scratched his head.

"I really shouldn't drop the charges Shiro. He's got priors. He's spent the last couple years in and out of Juvie."

"Well how about making him do a ridiculous amount of community service hours with me?"

"That's not really regulation-"

"Look, when he took of in my cruiser I saw something in him. With the right training this kid will be better than me someday. He just needs someone to kick his butt in the right direction."

The captain, frowned. "Okay, I'll figure something out. Keith, you're free to go." He uncuffed Keith from the desk. "You better shape up kid, you've got Takashi Shirogane's reputation on the line now."

Keith followed Shiro outside of the office. "Why would you do that?"

Shiro looked sideways at him. "I told you. You've got talent. Now, come on, I meant what I said about training you."

And Shiro had meant it. They spent hours training every day. They'd do a small bit of flight training and a long workout. Keith could barely finish half of the workout Shiro had set up for them. It was harder than any bootcamp Keith had ever been through.

But mostly it seemed like Shiro just wanted to get to know him. They'd talk for a long time, and Shiro would ask him personal questions about his home and school life. He wanted to know how Keith's grades were and if he had decent friends.

Keith told him whatever he wanted to hear. He tried to be honest, but it was difficult at times. Even more difficult than Shiro's crazy workouts.

Working with Shiro completely turned Keith's life around. He'd never had an adult so interested in his success. Keith wanted to make Shiro proud, but after a while he also wanted to succeed for himself too.

Becoming a pilot was perfect for Keith. He got his grades into shape over the next few years. It wasn't too difficult. Mostly he'd failed classes before due to absences or missing homework. With the most stable foster home he'd been to, and an incredible mentor to guide him, Keith could actually do well. He was lucky.

Getting into the Garrison soon switched from being a dream to being a reality.

Shiro was so proud of him. He ruffled his hair and took him out for ice cream. Keith claimed he was too old for ice cream, and Shiro had said there was "no such thing."

Soon after that Shiro was drafted for the Kerberos mission. He was eager to go on a deep space mission, it was his dream. For Keith though, the Kerberos mission meant losing his mentor and friend for a long time. Their farewell was bittersweet.

"Keith, you better be top of your class by the time I return."

And then Keith's world came crashing down around his ears. He heard about Shiro's death on the news. No one had even thought to give the poor orphan boy who was always tagging along a phone call. And why would they?

As much as Shiro had been like a brother to Keith, they weren't actually related.

Keith wasn't related to anyone.

* * *

The Shiro that Keith knew would never have let him walk away to go work with the blade. He would never have blindly trusted Lotor. He would never have told Lance to leave Voltron.

Keith hated the idea that Shiro wasn't the one that he'd grown up knowing. But he had to accept reality. He had to get Lance back.

Pidge was busy as usual when Keith and Allura found them.

"Do you think you can extract information from this? It's important." Keith asked before Allura could say anything. He didn't want to risk her explaining what they were up to on the off chance that they were wrong somehow.

"Uhh." Pidge examined the flashdrive, rubbing their thumb over the melted part. "This is in pretty bad condition. I can try, but I'm not sure that I'd get anything."

"Can you please try. I meant it when I said it was important."

Pidge nodded. "Where did you get this? It's not Galra, it's one of ours."

"I-uh…"

"Actually, now that I think about it. It's kind of funny. Lance had asked me about flashdrives before he...you know." Pidge trailed into silence.

"Wait, what?!" Keith and Allura looked at each other.

Pidge looked at them, narrowing their eyes. They could tell something was going on that they didn't know about. "Yeah…" They said carefully, studying Keith's and Allura's faces. "He asked me how to download encrypted information from a Galra computer. He also asked about where to find information on a Galran project."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him to search the main computer."

Keith and Allura glanced at each other again before suddenly racing off.

"Wait! What-" Pidge yelled after them.

"Just focus on figuring out what's on the drive, we've got to go check something!"

They raced down the hallway. There had to be something on the main computer. Lance had to have left them clues, even if they were on accident.

"What do we do?!" Keith said to Allura, running into the room.

"We have to check the computer for the last items people searched." She was already pressing buttons, getting the data set up.

It took a couple minutes to run. There were hundreds of searches.

"It's going to take an eternity to search through all of these. And there's no way to tell which one is Lance's." Allura sounded disheartened.

"Can we search by date? Lance disappeared over a week ago. He's not going to be any of the most recent ones."

"Yes...hold on...yes, got it." Allura pulled up a different list of searches.

They looked at the information, trying to find any clue as to which one would have been his. The information on the screen displayed the search, the number of results, and any that were selected. It was still too much information to sort through.

Keith had a sudden burst of information. "Wait! Allura, what were the coordinates of the base?"

Allura gasped, catching on. "I can search for them, and then we'll know if any of these results match up!"

She inputted some data and pressed a few more keys. The screen changed. There was only one search remaining.

"Project Kuron?" Keith asked, "What does that mean?"

Suddenly an out of breath Pidge came hurtling through the doorway.

"You're…not…" They huffed, clearly out of breath.

"Pidge! What is it?!" Keith said to them.

"You're not..going...believe this...the flashdrive...okay...the melted part...just plastic…"

"What?"

Pidge glared at him. "Look." They commanded, turning around the computer they were holding.

On the screen was a clear image of Shiro. One with his face towards the lense, the other in profile.

There was some Galra text next to the picture, that still hadn't been decoded. But there were two things Keith noticed immediately. The first was the title of the image was labeled, "Project Kuron." The second was the word "clone" in clear english in the translated part of the text.

Allura said what everyone was thinking.

"This is not good."

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh my god, can they just focus on tracking down Lance, please?

Kidding, they will, they will, I'm excited for this next bit too, but I'm ready for them to be one big happy family aboard the castle already. Then I can really get down to business with this Klance stuff.

Look for the next chapter tomorrow!


	11. Chapter 10

Aleja was immediately fascinated with Lance's spaceship. She reminded him so much of Pidge it was almost scary.

She wouldn't stop asking questions. As it was her first brush with Altean technology, she needed to know how everything worked. She was infinitely fascinated by the cloaking, and the different mechanisms for speed and weaponry.

"What does this one do." She pointed to a button near the steering.

Lance swatted her hand away, in return she pouted at him. "It sets atmospheric pressure, and it's not important right now. Just watch and learn. Your little brother's got some skills."

Aleja laughed at him, but stopped the moment they took off.

To Lance flying felt like a second skin to him now. He was so used to constantly piloting that he'd felt strange not flying around, even if it was just for a day.

He celebrated with a "whoop" when they got up to speed. Glancing next to him he saw Aleja looking terrified. He laughed with joy at the speed, but slowed down for her piece of mind. This wasn't her world, and she wasn't used to this.

They landed in the Arizona desert a short while later. Spaceships were infinitely faster than your average plane. Aleja looked pale next to him.

"That was…"

"Exhilarating, exciting, incredibly fun?" Lance finished the sentence for her.

"I was going to say terrifying."

"Now you sound like Hunk." Lance laughed, remembering how nervous Hunk had been on their first few flights. At least Aleja could keep everything in her stomach. Lance really wouldn't have looked forward to cleaning his spaceship. He wasn't sure if there was much in the realm of alien spacecraft dry cleaning nearby.

They left the ship to go find someone to help them track down their mother. From what Aleja knew, it sounded like the Garrison were hosting their mom while they tried to convince her to go home. It was kind of nice of them. Nice to know that after pretending to murder her son, they at least gave her a room to stay in for a while.

Lance knew the layout of the school, but wasn't sure where she might be staying. Aleja wasn't sure either. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to show up during the day. They ended up sneaking onto the Garrison campus in the hopes of running into someone who might be able to help.

"Are you sure you know how to do this?" Aleja asked in a rushed whisper.

"The number of times I snuck off the Garrison campus only to have to sneak back on, of course I know how to do this! Just pretend like you're supposed to be here and no one will look twice."

Lance was very wrong about his assumption. Students were still milling about the campus, despite it being late into the evening. As he passed by a few of them whispered to each other.

He whispered to Aleja. "Did I just get cuter while I was away, or what?"

She gently cuffed him on the head. "We're on a mission, remember. You'll have a chance for vanity later."

"Right." Lance said rubbing the back of his head. He saw a student by himself and pulled him aside. "Hi, we're looking for an older woman, she would look similar to us." He gestured to Aleja and him.

The kid looked at them blankly, but then stared more closely at Lance. His eyes lit up.

"She's here because she-" Lance continued, not noticing the change.

"Wait a second. Aren't you that kid that died?!"

He sounded way too excited about that. Suddenly the stares from the other students made a lot of sense.

"Ah...no...ah...that's some other kid." Lance backpedaled. "But we are looking for the mom of that kid, so if you'd just-"

"Well who do we have here?"

Lance turned around at the sound of the voice, he'd heard it before. "Commander Iverson! Uh…" He was the commander that loved to yell at Lance, Pidge, and Hunk after failing flight simulations. The thought of getting yelled at right then and in front of his sister made Lance's stomach tighten. "H-hey…"

"You're coming with me cadet."

"I don't think I'm technically a cadet anymore...sir." Lance regretted saying it instantly, remembering how quickly Iverson was to anger.

"Are you mouthing off to me?! You have a lot to answer for, you're going to be grilled by the higher council for your crimes. Come with me, or you'll come in cuffs."

"Okay, yes sir." Lance watched Iverson start to walk away, but turned back to his sister briefly. He gave her a quick hug. "Aleja, find mom, I'll be back soon, meet me by the ship." He whispered, before following after the commander.

* * *

It _really_ _wasn't_ good.

The information that they got from the chip pointed directly to Shiro being a fake. The Shiro that they'd all trusted had been a lie. It was something completely different to suspect someone you care about was a fake, than it was to know for certain. The idea was unsettling; the truth was crippling.

Keith wondered how long. Was the Shiro he and Lance had rescued on Earth a fake, or was it just the current Shiro, the one they found after he disappeared from the black lion?

 _No._ It had to just be the current Shiro who was a fake. The one they rescued from Earth had been supportive and caring, just like the Shiro Keith had always known.

"Now what do we do." The voice came from Allura. It sounded weak and frightened. Keith had never heard Allura sound like that.

"We've got to capture him." Keith wasn't yet sure just yet how to do it, but he knew that it was the right course of action.

The three of them nodded to each other, but none of them moved to do anything.

 _Why is it so hard to come up with good plans?_ It felt like they were facing the impossible. They needed more ideas.

"I guess we should tell the others first?" Keith said. Among six people, surely someone could think of something. "Pidge, you take Matt. Allura-"

"Coran." She nodded to him.

"That leaves me with Hunk." The three of them nodded to each other. "We'll meet in the common room after and figure out what to do."

They left to go track down their respective teammates.

Finding Hunk was the easy part. Explaining that Lance didn't leave, but had instead been attempted to be murdered was the hard part.

Hunk had been a mess since Lance left, and this was definitely not going to help his emotional state.

Keith was so bad at comforting people. He just had no idea how to do it. When he was sad all he wanted was to be left alone. Other people needed hugs and words of encouragement and comfort food and whatever else. Lance was great at this. It was no wonder he and Hunk had been best friends. Both of them were like bottled sunshine on a good day.

So it surprised Keith, when Hunk took the news well.

"So Lance didn't run away?" Hunk asked, more serious that Keith was used to.

"No. He got caught in a trap and then Shiro or Lotor forged the note."

"And Lance is alive?" Hunk sounded hopeful for the first time in days.

"We think so, but we have no way to tell for sure right now." Keith nodded.

"And we're going to look for him?"

"Of course. We just have to capture Shiro first."

"Let's do it." Once again, Hunk was surprisingly serious. After Keith had explained the evidence, Hunk had just trusted him completely.

They were the first two to arrive at the common room. Allura and Coran arrived shortly after. They nodded at each other as they entered the room and then sat in silence, waiting.

It wasn't long after that the door to the common room opened. They expected to see Pidge, but instead it was Shiro, followed closely by Lotor.

Keith felt the world drop. Out of all the paladins, he wouldn't have expected it to be Hunk who acted first.

Hunk yelled some expletive, before launching himself at Shiro and tackling him to the floor.

Well, Keith thought, guess we're doing it this way.

* * *

Lance followed the commander, making sure to keep note of exactly where he was in the Garrison. They turned through hallways Lance had never explored even from his pilot training days.

Deep into the Garrison's long hallways. Deep into the belly of the beast.

With each step Lance's anxiety escalated. He hoped they only wanted him to answer a few questions. He couldn't afford to be gone for too long or his sister might worry. His mamá was already worried.

Finally Commander Iverson stepped into a room, motioning for Lance to follow. It was dark, a single light bulb was suspended above a table. The entire back wall was tinted glass, probably functioning as a two way mirror. It looked every bit like something you would expect to see on an old cheesy cop show.

Lance chuckled. Iverson turned to glare at him, and he cut off mid laugh.

"Sit there." Iverson motioned to a chair on one side of the table. "I'll be back."

Lance did as he was told. He twiddled his thumbs for a while, before turning his head to speak to the glass.

"Hey, so I really don't have all that much time. I kind of need to get back to space at some point. Maybe you could help instead of holding me here? My ship's kind of damaged...so?"

Lance waited for a second, but nothing happened. He couldn't even be sure if there was anyone on the other side of the glass.

"So...uh...can someone please come in here and ask me whatever it is you need to ask me?"

Lance waited for another minute tapping his fingers on the table. He really did not like sitting still. After months in space Lance had gotten used to an especially fast paced lifestyle. It felt odd being without anything at all to do.

"Look I'll cooperate okay. I'll answer whatever questions you have, but can someone please come in here?"

There was still no answer, no suggestion of humanity behind the glass. He stood up and tapped it with his finger. Then he pressed his face against it and cupped his hands over his eyes to see if he could see any sign of movement on the other side. There was nothing.

Lance sauntered over to the door, trying to look more casual than he felt and pulled at the door handle. It was definitely locked. He had known it would be, but still felt himself deflate slightly as any glimmer of hope left his chest.

"So...uh…" He said turning back to the glass. "I don't usually play this card, but it's kind of important for the fate of the universe that you let me out. I know I look like this normal kid, but I have information that some friends of mine really need to hear, or the entire universe might get taken over by this evil alien race. So can you please, please let me out?"

Once again, Lance got no indication that anyone had heard him at all. Lance inspected the glass, tapping on it, trying to figure out how thick it was. It was probably bulletproof, so there was probably nothing he could do to break it. That shouldn't stop him from trying though.

Lance went over to the table and inspected it. It was just a cheap foldable one, he crawled underneath, looking at the legs. He pulled at each of the pipes until he found one of the legs that felt loose and started unscrewing it the rest of the way.

The moment it came free the doorknob to the room started turning. "Crap!" Lance hissed.

He stuck the leg back under the table so that the table looked balanced. As long as nobody leaned their body weight onto it, it should be fine. He slid back into his chair, trying to look as casual as possible.

Iverson entered, followed by an older man. "Cadet! This is Mr. Henesy, he works as an interrogator for us from time to time. You will give him your respect."

"Yes sir." Lance turned to the other man. "Sir?"

"That will do." He said. "We have some questions for you, young man."

"Fantastic! Listen, I'll answer whatever you want from me, but I need to leave as soon as possible so that I can get back into space."

The two men glanced at each other briefly. Before Henesy spoke again. "I really need you to tell us what happened from the time you left the Garrison. Do you remember?"

"Of course I remember!" Lance could feel himself getting slightly hysterical.

Iverson cut him off. "Calm down, you and your team has been missing for months, just tell us what happened."

"Fine!" Lance spoke as fast as he was able to, ignoring them completely until he was finished. "Keith flunked out of the Garrison which meant that I got the spot as the fighter pilot. You put me and Hunk and Pidge all on the same team, but Pidge discovered that Shiro was alive and so we went to rescue him and Keith showed up. Then we found a blue lion spaceship and accidentally travelled across the galaxy to a space castle where we woke up a princess who had been sleeping for a thousand years. Turns out there's been a war with these aliens called the Galra, taking over the entire universe and the only way to stop them was with Voltron, which is a giant robot made out of five flying robot ships, the others went and found their ships and since then we've been saving the universe from the Galra and rescuing planets, and then we thought we killed the Emperor Zarkon, and Shiro disappeared, but his son Lotor took over and we found Shiro and then Keith left the team and then we found Pidge's brother Matt and then Zarkon came back and tried to kill Lotor and then Lotor pretended to be good and joined us and then I found out that Shiro is a clone and Lotor is evil and Lotor tried to kill me but I managed to escape and came here, my spaceship's communications got destroyed so I have no way to contact the others. I got down here on Earth and found out everyone I love thought I was dead, and now I need to tell my mom I'm alive, and then figure out how to find Shiro and how to get back to Voltron to warn the others about all of this or the universe might get destroyed."

The two men sat in surprised silence as Lance finished his tirade.

"Any other questions?" Lance asked. "No? Then can I please leave? I clearly have business to attend to."

Iverson touched his ear and whispered. "Send in the guard. We need to give him a psychiatric examination."

Lance had a small flashback to when he and Keith rescued Shiro. "Yeah, I really do not have time for this." He watched the door handle open, and two more men start to walk in the room.

If he was going to act, it would have to be now, before the door closes.

Lance grabbed the leg of the table he knew was loose. He looked into Henesy's eyes. "Sorry about this." And then kicked the top of the table as hard as he could into the two men.

* * *

Shiro just dodged out of the way with most of his body, but Hunk managed to grab hold of his leg and caused them to both come crashing to the ground.

Keith grabbed his bayard and ran to back up Hunk. Shiro's arm lit up and came slashing down on Hunk's shoulder and then a second time on Hunk's leg. He howled in pain and recoiled, which allowed Shiro to twist back up outside of Hunk's grasp.

Keith sliced his bayard through the air towards Shiro, who caught it with his glowing hand. He slashed at Shiro again, each time yelling a word.

"Where. Is. The. Real. Shiro?"

Shiro's hand stopped him each time. He stayed silent, focusing on the fight.

Allura rushed to Hunk to help him stand. "Coran! Go after Lotor!" Allura yelled. Coran ran through the door, where the Prince had fled through a moment before.

One of Allura's arms was supporting Hunk, with the other she pulled out her own bayard, which transformed into a staff. She swiped with it through the air at Shiro's legs.

He flipped backward, away from all of the paladins and into the wall. He pushed off of it with all his might and used the force to tackle Keith.

Keith's head hit the ground hard. His bayard was knocked out of his grip by the force of the landing. He kicked at Shiro, but it didn't matter. Shiro was already rolling off of him, letting the momentum carry him toward the door on the other side of the room.

Shiro ran forward.

* * *

The table smashed into Henesy and Iverson with enough force to knock Henesy over and wind the Commander. With the table leg in Lance's grasp he took a swing at Iverson's head.

Iverson managed to duck down just in time, wrenching his body out from under the table. He went for his hip.

Lance knew he would be carrying a blaster, and took another swing at Iverson's hand. This time the pipe connected.

Lance all of a sudden understood how Keith must feel. A sword was a powerful weapon, and there was something immensely satisfying about striking down your opponent that you'd never get from a blaster.

Iverson yowled in pain.

Lance launched himself at Iverson. He grabbed towards the blaster with his left hand and kicked out the back of Iverson's knees at the same time.

They both fell to the floor, their limbs tangled into each other. Lance wrenched his hand free, holding tight to the blaster.

From upside down on the ground he took aim at one of the guardsmen by the door. They were both scrambling for their weapons. Lance took several shots at one of their legs. Lance stopped as soon as one of the blasts connected and the guard closest to the door collapsed against it.

Iverson, tried to grab for the blaster in Lance's hand. Lance was too close to use the pipe, so instead he pulled his right arm back and drilled his elbow, hard into Iverson's nose.

Iverson yelled in pain again. This time falling to Lance's side. It gave Lance the clearance to scramble up and start running forward.

The second guard had his blaster ready and took several shots at Lance's chest. He ducked, used his momentum to slide across the floor, and smacked the pipe into the guards wrist as hard as he could. He heard a crack, and the guard dropped his weapon.

The guard by the door was still scrambling with his own weapon, clearly in pain from the blast to his leg. Lance used the pole this time to smack the guards gun, so that he wouldn't hurt him any more than he already had. The gun went flying into the hallway and Lance took off after it.

Now free of the room, he had to find his way back out to the desert. He hoped he'd paid enough attention.

Lance heard loud footsteps coming from the adjacent hallway.

Time to run.

* * *

Shiro's was almost to the door, when blasts shot out.

In the chaos Hunk had managed to grab his bayard. Still being supported by Allura, he looked to be in incredible pain. The effort of holding up his blaster was clearly wrenching his already damaged shoulder. Who knew how much damage it would cause.

He shot at Shiro who was forced to dodge out of the way of the door. Keith sprang into action once again, rolling up from the floor. He sprinted at Shiro, without his weapon focusing on nothing but tackling him.

He barreled into Shiro's body. He was already off balance from having to dodge so suddenly and fell over easily.

Shiro's glowing hand tried to come down like it had before with Hunk, but Keith was prepared for it this time. He grabbed Shiro's wrist, and threw all of his remaining weight into it.

It was just enough to prevent Shiro from doing any damage. Shiro's free hand punched at Keith's face. Keith barely managed to duck his head before the fist connected.

It hurt, but Keith focused on holding the free hand away from his body and on keeping Shiro pinned.

"Allura! Help!" Keith gasped, through blows.

Allura helped Hunk lean against the wall, before sprinting over and swinging her staff at Shiro's head. The staff spun through the air, before Allura connected it tightly to her hip at the last moment, so that her entire weight would be in the blow.

Shiro went limp.

Keith's grip relaxed on Shiro's wrist He rolled off to the side, panting. They each took their time, gasping for breath before Allura spoke.

"We've got to get all three of you to the med bay. I don't like the look of your shoulder, Hunk." She gestured at Hunks arm.

She helped Hunk stand, and supported as much of his weight as she could.

"Keith, do you think you can get Shiro by yourself?" Allura asked.

"I'll have to try." Keith lifted one of Shiro's arms over his shoulder and pushed hard through his thighs to stand up. He took a few steps forward, dragging Shiro's body along with him. It would be hard work, but he could do it. Keith nodded at Allura.

Slowly they made their way up to the med bay.

Once there Allura set up a healing pod for Hunk and another one for Shiro. Keith tossed Shiro's body unceremoniously into the respective pod.

Hunk gingerly stepped into his, and relaxed as soon as the door closed.

"Keith, there's something I'm worried about." Allura said.

"I know." Keith knew he needed a healing pod too, but it could wait a bit longer. "We've got to go find the others."

* * *

Lance sprinted through the hallways listening for the sounds of voices, feet, anything that would clue him in on more guards.

He ducked through doorways trying to just remember how to get back to the part of the Garrison that was familiar to him. Lance came to a hallway that was completely foreign.

"Crap!" Lance half yelled it, half whispered. He'd taken a wrong turn somewhere.

He ran back the direction he came. Guards were shuffling through the adjacent hallway. Lance ducked through a doorway, as silently as he could.

Feet went shuffling past the door. From the sound it had to be at least four guards. Even if they weren't as experienced of fighters as the Galra, four was more than Lance was sure he could take by himself.

He waited for a moment, while the footsteps receded before ducking back out through the door. The soldiers probably knew where they were going even if Lance didn't.

Lance ran in the direction they were headed, hoping that he was right.

It was a challenge to be far enough back from the soldiers that they wouldn't hear him, but close enough that he could still follow their noise. They moved fast, and it was difficult for Lance to keep up silently.

Suddenly he turned the corridor and saw students milling about. He was back to the main part of the campus!

He could see the guards in the distance, running around, asking students questions.

"Uh oh." Lance ducked into a room before he could be spotted. He needed a change of clothes. Fast.

Some poor unsuspecting student was about to have their uniform stolen. Lance felt bad that he couldn't stay and reminisce about the good times he'd had with Hunk in one of these rooms. He shuffled through the closet praying one of these kids was a similar size.

He found a jacket that fit decently around his arms, but the pants were a couple inches too short. It would have to do. There was no time to go searching through other students' rooms.

He saw a backpack next to one of the desks. Emptying it onto the floor, Lance tossed his suit inside and zipped it back up. He looked at the books on the floor and winced. Pidge would have killed him for treating books that way.

There wasn't time to fix it though. He attached the blaster to his leg and grabbed the metal table leg. He took a breath before racing out of the hall.

* * *

They nodded at each other and took off racing down the halls, calling for their friend's names. They retraced the steps from the common room, to where they last saw Coran.

A groan came from a nearby hallway. Coran was lying on the floor, clearly in pain.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Allura gasped, already helping him up.

"No!" Coran yelled. "Go after Lotor! He's gone to the hangar!"

That was all it took to send Keith off running again. "I'll go, you stay and help Coran!"

He raced around the castle, listening for any sound. As he got closer he heard clunking and whirring. It was the sound of a ship undocking.

"No!" Keith yelled, looking out the window. He saw the ship go flying past. Keith's steps hurried even faster toward the hangar. If he could just get there in time maybe he could follow Lotor and get him somehow.

As he approached though, his blood went cold. He heard cries of pain. Keith slid through the door to the sight of Matt, lying on the ground unconscious and Pidge distressed over their brother and a clearly broken leg.

"Pidge!" Keith yelled.

"Keith! Help us!"

Finding Lotor would have to wait.

* * *

It was chaos. Alarms were blaring overhead. Students were running around. Lance tried to look as busy as they were. He ducked his head so that people wouldn't be able to look at his face.

He walked as fast as he thought was reasonable toward the exit.

"Over there!" Someone shouted.

Lance turned around expectantly, but the student was pointing in some other direction.

He shuffled his feet faster.

As soon as he made it to a quiet hallway, he took off running as fast as he could. He looked through the window to see guards milling about outside.

They were blocking the entrances. Lance would have to scale the walls without being seen.

 _What I wouldn't give for Pidge's cloaking technology right now._

He knew where to go though. There was a spot between the landing strips and the main road that was a blind spot for the guard tower. He'd snuck through there hundreds of times.

It was a lot more nerve wracking this time. When he was a student at the Garrison no one had actively been trying to capture him when he snuck out. Now he'd be in much more trouble if he got caught.

He waited behind a parked car for the patrolling guard to go past.

He rushed to the blind spot. The wall was old and had plenty of cracks for handholds. It was no more difficult for Lance than climbing the tree outside his parent's house.

It would only take him a few seconds to scale it and jump down the other side.

 _One_. He pulled himself up bracing himself on the cool stone.

 _Two._ Another foothold that would get him most of the way up.

 _Three._ He listened for any alert that he'd been spotted as he grabbed another handhold.

 _Four._ He clutched the top of the wall.

 _Five._ He pulled himself up on top.

 _Six._ He flung himself off, bracing for the impact of the ground.

Lance rolled on his shoulder, allowing the momentum to carry him so that he wouldn't hurt himself.

Standing up and brushing himself off, Lance looked around. The desert was a big, empty place. He was pretty sure his spaceship was _somewhere_ in the general vicinity.

"Okay, now where the hell did I park my invisible jet?"

* * *

 **A/N:** Makes a nod to wonder woman.

Have an extra long chapter since it's later than usual. Hope you enjoyed it.

The next one's probably a long one too, hopefully I'll see you tomorrow, if not you can expect it on Friday!

EDIT: Sorry, the chapter's going to be late, I've been working on it, but haven't been feeling well and don't think I'll finish it tonight. I'll try to get it up Saturday for everyone!


	12. Chapter 11

"Right here!"

"Ah!" The voice behind Lance made him jump. He turned around to see Aleja waving at him from an invisible platform and laughing. Leave it to siblings to take a tense situation and use it to tease each other.

"Don't just stand there. Come on, we've been waiting for you."

"Did you find mamá?" Lance asked, hopeful, while climbing inside the ship.

"Of course." Aleja ruffled Lance's hair. "Leave it to your big sis. She always gets the job done."

Aleja motioned behind her, and Lance saw his mom for the first time in months. She was shorter than Lance by his entire head. Her hair was wavy, short, and combed back out of her face. She was stockier than Lance, too, but otherwise she looked like him. Lance could see she looked more tired than usual, as though she had not been getting enough sleep.

His mom looked like she had been crying recently, and upon seeing him her eyes filled with tears again. She held out her arms for Lance, and he ran and hugged her, his own eyes spilling over with tears he had not realized were there.

She let out a choked laugh and said. "Please tell me you've found someone out there in space who will love you more than I do, because there's no other reason to wait for months to call your mamá."

Lance let out a tearful laugh. "I've missed you so much."

The continued to embrace for another second before she pulled away from him. She touched his cheek gently, wiping away one of his tears "Aleja told me what happened. You're a hero. I am so, so proud of you mijo."

The sound of a throat clearing alerting Lance to a fourth person aboard the ship. Lance looked up to see a kindly looking middle aged woman. She was big and tall and had brown skin. Her eyes had the same weariness of his mother's.

"Uh...hi...I'm Lance." He extended his hand to her.

"Lea Garett." She said.

"You're Hunk's mom!" Lance exclaimed.

She nodded sadly.

"Hunk is incredible. He's kept me alive on more occasions than I can count. Without him we wouldn't have been able to save nearly as many people as we had." Lance wanted to cheer her up. He delved into the story of how Hunk had single handedly saved the Balmera, embellishing only a couple details to make Hunk seem even more dashing and brave than he was.

"Thank you." Mrs. Garett said quietly. "I'm so glad he's okay...I'm glad you're all okay. I just wish I could see him."

Lance patted her on the shoulder. "You will. I'll make sure he comes home. Speaking of which…" He turned back to Aleja and his own mom. "I'm going to need to go back into space."

Aleja nodded. His mom on the other hand looked sad. "Mija, you just got home."

"I know. I'm sorry. There's really important information that I have to get to the other Paladins. If I don't get back things could get bad for everyone. I need to do this."

Lance's mom approached and touched his cheek again. She still looked sad, but she said, "I understand. What do we have to do?"

Lance looked at his sister. "Aleja, I need you to fix the ship."

She snorted, and then looked at him surprised, realizing he was serious. "Lance I can't just fix a ship, I don't know anything about Altean technology."

"But you're a computer scientist, you're definitely as good as Pidge."

"I specialize in Ethical Hacking. I don't know anything about spaceships or comm systems." Aleja looked slightly exasperated.

Lance thought for a second. "Wait...Pidge! Aleja, do you think you could track down an address for me?"

"Well yeah, that should be easy."

"I need you to find out where Samuel and Colleen Holt live."

* * *

The spaceship pulled up to an adorable looking house. It had a decent amount of privacy from the homes nearby due to several large trees that overlooked the property.

Lance whistled. It was a really nice house.

He looked around himself to make sure no one was coming from the street before hopping out of the ship. He figured it would probably look a bit strange for a person to appear out of nowhere.

He knocked on the door, steeling himself to comfort a grieving woman after losing both children and her husband for space. He could only imagine how upsetting all of that must be. Lance hoped he could bring her some sort of comfort.

When the door finally opened he was greeted by a relatively tall woman with shoulder length blonde hair wearing a pair of heavy goggles. She didn't look sad; she looked angry.

"Listen!" She said, poking Lance in the chest. "I don't want any more news about how my children supposedly died in space. I'm tired of you people from the Garrison trying to get me to believe some crap story about pilot error and school accidents! Leave me alone!"

Lance looked down, realizing he was still in the Garrison uniform he had stolen. "No, Mrs. Holt!"

She went to slam the door shut.

"Wait! I'm a friend of Pidge's!"

She paused, suddenly unsure. "Their brother used to call them that a lot. What...what do you want."

"I-uh-" Lance was taken aback by the sudden change in atmosphere, he tried to gather his thoughts.

Mrs. Holt took of her goggles to get a better look at him. "Wait. You're one of those other boys that went missing at the same time. Aren't you?"

"Uh...yes…and we're all alive. Actually we were together until a few days ago. And-and we found your son, Matt. He's alive too."

She took a sharp intake of breath. "Tell me."

Her eyes were piercing. Lance found it almost eerie. "Well, long story short, Pidge was actually looking for Matt and your husband and we found out they had been kidnapped by an evil alien race. And then we ended up in space fighting that same alien race, and then Pidge found Matt and now they're both looking for your husband but we don't know where he might be exactly. And I ended up back on Earth because someone was trying to kill me, and now I really, really have to get back up to space to warn the others. And I need your help."

Mrs. Holt looked away from Lance for a second. "I knew it." She looked back at him. "How can I help?"

Lance sighed in relief. "When Pidge was at the Garrison they had built a communications system that could go farther than the standard ones. That was how we found out there were aliens and how we found Shiro. The comm system on my ship is broken. I need one that can at least help me communicate with nearby aliens to be able to find my way back to Voltron. I need to look through Pidge's stuff and find out if there's anything that can help."

She sighed. "You're not going to find much. The Garrison came by and took most of the tech Pidge had been working on after you all disappeared."

Lance deflated. "Oh."

"But I still might be able to help you. I've been working on a few things myself these past few months." She pulled Lance inside.

It was a mess. To an extent it reminded him of Keith's cabin in the desert, with the conspiracy board and papers everywhere. There was a lot more technology in this house though. Blueprints littered the floor and walls. Half put together machine parts covered desks. Several components to what looked like radios were stuck together and blocking most of the hallway.

"It's not usually this messy. I kind of-let it get that way after Pidge disappeared. I needed to find my family." She looked slightly embarrassed.

"Mrs. Holt, this is amazing."

"If you think my children get all of their brains from their father you are sorely mistaken."

* * *

Mrs. Holt had Lance park his spaceship in her backyard. Afterward a controlled chaos developed as the other women worked together to figure out what they could do.

Mrs. Holt took the lead in working on the comm system and the gravity with the help of Aleja. Mrs. Garett worked on the more minor repairs and anything hardware related. Lance's mom helped wherever she was directed, following the lead of the other women.

Lance helped as much as he could, but mostly the others just wanted to hear about his adventures in space and their own children while they worked.

He obliged. Lance may not be the greatest engineer, but he knew how to tell a good story. He told the women about Voltron and the Galra. He talked about the merpeople and about losing Shiro. He talked about the change in Lions and the clone of Shiro coming back.

When he got to the part about Keith leaving Voltron he said, "I didn't want Keith to go, I don't think any of us did. I should have said something, but-I-in a way I think him leaving might have been my fault. Even though he's the better pilot he knew how important being a part of Voltron was for me. He-" Lance cut off and looked at his hands. His vision became blurry as his eyes filled with tears.

Lance felt his mother approach and gently squeeze his shoulder.

"Mijo, you never had to be the best pilot. You just had to be the best pilot that _you_ could be. What you've done is amazing." She knelt down so that she was looking into Lance's eyes. "You are an incredible pilot and a hero. But what is most amazing about you is how every time you fail you come back stronger. You are resilient, and the universe needs someone like you to save it."

"Mamá, I-" Lance rubbed at his eyes.

"Shhh, it's okay to feel things very strongly. This Keith boy is obviously very important to you and the team. When you get back you should tell him. He probably feels as lost as you do sometimes."

Lance nodded. His tears were steadily lessening.

His mom continued. "It must be so hard on all of you to be away from Earth for so long. I can't imagine how lonely you all must feel. We can't go with you, so I want to make sure you know how important you are to me."

Hunk's mother approached. She patted Lance's other shoulder. "I want you to know how much comfort you've brought to me, to all of us, by being here. You told us that our children are alive, and that they are heroes. You have no idea what it means."

"Yes, Mijo, look around you. You are doing exactly right. And before you leave we'll make sure to track down Keith's family so that they know he's okay too."

Lance started. "Keith-he doesn't have a family. He's an orphan."

There were tutters of suprise from the moms. "Oh no."

"That settles it then," Lance's mom said, "When you all get back to earth, you're going to bring that boy to a family dinner, do you understand?"

Lance chuckled at his mom.

"I'm serious."

He nodded at her.

Lance continued his stories of the team, as the moms got back to work on his ship. They were finished with the repairs before the next evening.

Lance tried to make sure everything was working properly.

Mrs. Holt said to him as he was inspecting, "I doubt the comm system has quite as much range as it did before, but it should work and hopefully you won't have any more problems.

Lance smiled at her. "Can I just say, you are the most amazing group of people that exist in this universe, and trust me, I've met a lot of people."

* * *

They rested for the night, making sure they were at their peak before leaving Mrs. Holt's house. She thanked Lance for the stories about her children.

They next made a stop in Hawaii to drop off Hunk's mother. She thanked Lance for giving her life back to her. The worry that she had felt, the belief that the Garrison hadn't been telling her something about her only child's disappearance had been eating away at her for months. But now, even though she would worry about her son, she knew that he was alive and a hero.

The last stop was back home in Cuba. Aleja pulled Lance off the ship to tell all of the family goodbye before he left.

He picked up his youngest brother and squeezed him until he complained. He sat next to his Abuela for an hour, talking to her about his adventures and how much he had missed her. He kissed his aunt and uncle on the cheek and thanked them for helping the family.

Before too long he'd said goodbye to everyone. He made his way back to his ship, feeling bittersweet about the entire ordeal. It was nice to get to see his family again; it was nicer to be able to let them know he was safe. He would miss them.

Prior to boarding his ship, his mom appeared. She was smiling at him and crying, and pulling along his father by his arm.

Lance hadn't been sure if he wanted to see his papá before he left. His dad had never exactly been proud of him, had always thought Lance's pursuit of being a pilot was the wrong path. As if to make it worse, Lance had just about proven him right. First by failing to become a fighter pilot, then by disappearing right after he had.

Lance's dream had taken him away from his family. It had nearly killed him on several occasions. His family had been ripped apart because of his decisions. His father had to have looked at all of Lance's choices and judged them.

Lance was ashamed.

His dad hadn't been around the entire time he'd been back, and that had made the decision to avoid him easy. But now here he was, in the flesh, and Lance had no idea what to say.

"Hey, papá." Lance looked at the ground.

"Mijo." That was all his father said before Lance was engulfed in a hug.

Lance was surprised by the gesture. His father held him tightly, shaking slightly. Water dripped on Lance's shoulder. It was a moment before Lance realized what it was: tears.

His father was crying. He was a man who had always been so serious, so straightforward. Lance couldn't think of what to do other than apologize.

"Papá, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No." His father cut him off. His voice was deep and gruff. "I'm so glad you're alive."

Lance hugged him back tightly, his own eyes starting to fill with tears.

"Lance…I am so proud of you."

The tears were free flowing now. Neither person spoke another word.

They stood like that for a long time, before Lance's father finally pulled away. "You've got to get going. You have a universe to save."

Lance nodded. He looked at his mom, who's face was red and blotchy. She had been crying too.

"Lance," she said, approaching him, "I will miss you."

"I'll miss you too, mamá."

"Just promise me that you'll come home eventually. Take care of yourself." She hugged her arms around him.

"I will."

She pulled away and started chuckling, and Lance steeled himself for a good joke. "If you go get an alien fiancee I will accept it, but you do not get to forget to bring them home to meet your mamá okay?" She tapped him on the nose.

"But what if I brought home a Galra?" He winked, teasing her back.

"Don't push it. I could accept a half-Galra, but it would be a stretch." She winked back at him, pleased with her joke.

At the mention of a half-Galra Lance suddenly thought of Keith. It was a surprise to Lance, that at such an intimate moment he would think about his friend. And yet somehow, it seemed to fit.

His mom put her hands on either side of Lance's face and moved his head to look her in the eyes. "Lance, look at me. I love you, and I will accept anyone who loves you and who you believe is worthy of your love. Do you understand? Anyone."

"You suddenly got serious, mamá." Lance complained.

"No, mijo, you had a look in your eye. Whoever you were thinking about must be very special."

* * *

Millions of miles away, Keith sneezed.

* * *

 **A/N:** Mom team go! Mothers for the mothership!

Ugh, this chapter took me too long to finish. I wanted to include more Keith in there, but just didn't have the time to write everything I wanted. Next chapter here I come!


	13. Chapter 12

Keith dragged Matt and helped Pidge to the med bay while Allura worked on moving Coran. Coran's injuries were the worst, by far, so they had to be careful not to make them even worse while moving him.

Keith's nose was dripping blood from where the fake Shiro had hit him. He didn't want to waste time in a healing pod, especially when he knew that somewhere out in space Lance was waiting for the Castle to find him.

It had been more than a week that Lance had been on his own. Every day that ticked by made searching for him more difficult. They were sorely lacking in clues.

After ensuring that all of his friends were safely in healing pods Allura looked expectantly at Keith.

"I'm just, going to stay out for now." Keith said to her look.

"Keith…" She frowned. Her voice was stern.

"No, it's just I'm not that badly hurt. I don't really need a pod."

"And I don't need a paladin who will bleed all over the ship."

Keith could tell he wasn't about to get out of it easily. "What if Zarkon attacks while you're the only person out?"

"Then I'll release you. But you, Hunk, and Pidge will probably only be in there for a few hours, so I shouldn't have a problem steering the castle out of the way for that long."

"But-"

"Your nose looks broken, is that really the look you want to have when we rescue Lance?"

Damn. Allura had got him.

"Besides," she continued, "You might have a mild concussion. You really do need a healing pod."

"Okay, okay. I'll go in the healing pod. Can you…" Keith swallowed the bile that was rising in his throat. "Can you look for him while I'm out?"

"Of course." Allura tilted her head at him. "Get some rest."

Keith nodded before stepping into the healing pod. He settled in while Allura turned it on. The sensation was pleasant. He felt a glowing warmth surround him as the pod activated. It was incredibly soothing.

It only felt like it lasted a few seconds before he felt the warmth start to leave his limbs. He could move his fingers and toes again. He wiggled them candidly for a moment before opening his eyes.

Hunk, Pidge and Allura were standing around in what looked like deep discussion. Keith stepped out of the pod and walked towards them. He felt better than he had in years. He stretched his arms across his chest as he approached.

"What have we figured out?" Keith said. His voice startled all three of them, who hadn't realized Keith's pod had disengaged. Hunk jumped a full foot into the air.

It was Pidge who spoke first. "It's not looking good."

"What do you mean?"

Allura spoke this time. "Normally we'd be able to communicate with the ship directly, but Lance's communications are either off, very far out of range, or damaged in some way."

"So what's the plan?" Keith tried to ignore the feeling of tightness coming from his stomach.

Pidge patted him on the shoulder. "Well, I figured I'd start by working on strengthening our communication systems to reach farther into the universe. It might be a long shot though."

Hunk piped up too. "I'm going to help however I can, but we just don't have a lot of ideas right now."

Allura nodded, frowning. "Without anything to go off of, it could be impossible to track Lance down."

Keith's expression froze. "What are you getting at?"

"Well…" Allura looked suddenly uncomfortable, she was shifting her weight from foot to foot ever so slightly. "I just mean...it may be better to focus on other things until we get some information."

"What things?" Keith could feel his blood start to boil under his skin. "What's more important than finding Lance right now? We can't form Voltron without five paladins. We need Lance to do that."

"I know, but Keith, you're forgetting-"

"Forgetting what?!"

Allura started again, her voice softer this time. "If we find Shiro we'll have five paladins again, too."

Keith breathed out, realizing his mistake. In his panic about Lance, he'd completely forgotten about Shiro. Shiro, who was his oldest friend and mentor. Shiro, who was probably in the Galra's hands again being tortured and whatever else. Keith's feelings for Lance had completely eclipsed everything else. The realization shocked Keith. He hadn't known how deep his feelings had gone. "I...uh…"

"We actually might have a lead on Shiro. At the very least we know he's likely in the Galra's hands. And we wanted to wait for you before...before questioning the clone."

Keith looked back at the healing pod with Shiro's body inside. He forced a nod. He knew logically it made sense to look for Shiro first. Shiro was Shiro. He was strong and independent. He was a survivor.

But Lance was Lance.

Keith didn't want to think about the dread welling up in his stomach. He turned his head back toward Allura. "We're not going to stop looking for Lance."

"Of course not." She breathed out a sigh of relief. "Every additional moment we have we can spend looking for him. We'll definitely find him."

* * *

It took a while for them to get prepared. To question the fake Shiro they needed to have everything ready. He had infiltrated their ranks for several weeks without being caught, not to mention had all of the real Shiro's strength. If any of them got caught off guard it could mean disaster.

"Ready?" Allura asked.

Everyone nodded.

She pressed the button to release him from the pod. Hunk and Keith immediately placed the shackles on his wrists. It definitely wasn't the perfect solution, but they didn't have a lot of other options.

Shiro's head rolled back for a moment before snapping to attention. He blinked, looking around at the paladins around him.

"Uh...f-fake Shiro…" Allura tried to start speaking, but sounded nervous.

Shiro ignored her, taking the time to test out the strength of the shackles.

"Shiro!" Keith almost yelled it. He was already irritated, and they'd only just begun.

Shiro glanced at him.

Allura flashed Keith a look of thanks at the same time. It seemed to calm her nerves. "We have some questions for you."

Shiro turned his head to look into her eyes, sounding bored. "Not interested."

Allura tried to pretend it didn't bother her, but Keith noticed her stiffen a bit before she continued. "We want to know where the real Shiro is. We want to know the full scope of project Kuron. We also want to know what else Lotor is planning."

Shiro chuckled under his breath. "And why, exactly do you think I would know ANY of that information?"

Allura frowned. "You've been working with Lotor this entire time. You know something."

"Why don't you ask him?"

Allura stiffened more.

Shiro smirked. "Ah...I see...Lotor escaped, didn't he? You don't have any other leads other than me."

Allura tried not to react, but her face showed it all.

He chuckled again. "Well here's what I know. Voltron will fall. You will be defeated. As for your friends, they cut Shiro apart to gather enough DNA to make me. You could hear his screams throughout the station."

Allura shuddered.

"And what? Not concerned about that other Paladin at all? What was his name? Lance? Is that boy so easily cut from your team? How long do you think he can last floating in the emptiness of space all alone. One week? Maybe a few if his ship was stocked? They'll both be dead soon if they're not already-"

Keith launched himself at Shiro, grabbing a fistfull of his shirt before the others could stop him. He raised his fist to strike, but Hunk caught him before he could finish the blow.

"Keith! Stop!" Allura yelled.

Shiro's face broke into a sneer looking into Keith's eyes. "What? Did I upset you? Did hearing that your precious leader is in Galra hands make you mad? Or was it the bit about your beloved Lance that got you to snap?"

Keith threw all of his power into the fist that Hunk was holding. It was just enough to break free from his grasp. Keith felt with satisfaction as his knuckles connected with the side of Shiro's jaw.

Shiro's head snapped to the side.

"Keith!" The others yelled.

Hunk wrestled Keith away from Shiro, pinning his arms to the side.

"Keith! Go wait outside!" Allura yelled. "You're making things worse!"

Hunk shuffled towards the door, still gripping tightly to Keith's shoulders. But there was no use, Keith wasn't fighting him. He pulled out of Hunk's grasp and walked the last few feet out of the door himself. He glanced back at the fake Shiro one last time before leaving.

Shiro was smirking again. Half of his face was red from the punch, parts of it already turning darker.

It was infuriating. Keith turned away, storming out of the room. He didn't like how much of an effect hearing about Lance's potential death had on him. It made him even more angry that the clone was right.

How long could Lance last on his own? Keith had only found evidence that Lance had escaped near death and that his ship had been damaged to some extent. There was nothing to suggest the condition Lance was in. He could be severely injured or have wormholed somewhere completely uninhabited with no way to call for help.

Even best case scenario Lance wasn't made to be on his own.

Shiro was hardy, and space tested. He could endure just about anything. Keith worried about him, and hoped he was alive, but if anyone was a survivor it was Shiro.

Lance though?

Lance was bubbly, and embodied the energy of the people around him. He was charismatic and funny. Sure, he was also inventive, and could be clever if he put his mind to it. But in a harsh and unknown part of the universe without his friends to rely on?

Keith wasn't sure about his chances. Or maybe that's just what I'm telling myself.

The fake Shiro knew this. He had taken one look at Keith and knew all of the fears that were running around inside of his head. Had even called Lance, 'beloved'.

Keith didn't muse too long on that.

He'd talked about Lance being easy to cut from the team. It might not have meant much to any of the other Paladins, but Keith remembered vividly the conversation he had had with Lance only a few months before. Lance had been about to give up his role as Paladin to make it easier on everyone.

Lance had such little belief in himself that he was meant to be on team Voltron. With the way everyone else acted, it almost seemed like they agreed.

Keith knew differently though. He saw how important Voltron was for Lance, and he saw how important Lance was to Voltron. Lance was the center of it. He'd once called Allura the heart, but he was wrong. Lance was the piece that made Voltron work. Without him, even the castle seemed a bit darker.

If they found Shiro first, Lance would come back to a team with no need for him. He wasn't sure if Lance would accept Keith's resignation a second time.

So even if the team had agreed to look for Shiro first, it didn't sit well with Keith.

* * *

Allura found Keith by the main computer.

He was searching, looking for any clues. He was calling out to Lance in any way that he knew how. Somewhere in the universe Lance had to be calling back.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine." Keith's jaw was set. He didn't even glance away from the screen.

"Listen. We're all here if you want to talk about anything."

Keith nodded his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"Pidge and Matt are currently working on any clues to their whereabouts they can find. I'll let you know the moment we find something."

He nodded again.

"Please...just don't go overboard. We need you in the best shape possible. When we find one of them we might have a big fight on our hands."

Keith didn't say anything for a moment. Allura sighed and turned to leave.

"Allura?" He said it softly, and saw her turn around in the corner of his eye. "I know that you want to look for Shiro first, and you're probably right about having a better chance at finding him. But I'm not going to stop looking for Lance. Maybe it's just what the clone said, but I can't shake the feeling he's the right person to search for."

Allura sighed quietly, but seemed resigned. "Okay, Keith. Just please take care of yourself."

* * *

 **A/N** : I'm back!

So sorry for my far too long unexplained accidental absence. I've just had a hard time getting back into the rhythm of writing everyday, and all it takes is one day to completely throw everything off.

I've made sure to plan everything out plot wise for this story, so I know exactly what's going to happen when. All that's left is for me to write it.

Happy holidays! Glad to be back!


	14. Chapter 13

It was a rough couple of weeks for Keith. He spent every waking moment scanning the computers for signs of Lance. Occasionally Hunk, Pidge, and Matt would help, but mostly they kept to the search for Shiro.

A couple of nights Keith had even fallen asleep in the middle of a scan. He'd wake up to find the outlines of the keyboard keys pressed into his cheeks. Red marks running all the way up to his forehead.

Hunk had started bringing him food, after realizing Keith wasn't remembering to eat. Pidge purposefully shut him out of the computers in the castle for an hour in order to convince him to take a bath.

He was ignoring his other duties too. Allura and Coran would come and invite him to training sessions. The concern was apparent on their faces. He kept telling them that he would be there, but then never showed up. They didn't say anything though. Keith wasn't sure if the desperate look in his eyes was scaring them off, or if they just understood why it all mattered so much to him.

It made him feel guilty. He knew that it was a slim chance to find Lance without any clues. He knew that his time would be better spent with the others working on finding Shiro. He couldn't help it though.

An indicator light popped up on the screen he was working on. Once again Kolivan was trying to contact him, and once again Keith ignored him.

He hadn't been able to figure out what to say to Kolivan. He knew that the Blade of Marmora needed him, but he also didn't know how long he would be a paladin again. It might be a permanent position if they couldn't find Lance.

Keith shuddered at the thought.

The Blade could survive without him for a few weeks. Keith continued his search without wavering.

He started zoning out while waiting on the most recent scan to finish. Keith thought about Lance, how he would give just about anything to see his smile again. Lance with his smile was a bright shining light. In the darkness of space he was a beacon.

So why was it so hard to find him?

Keith might be a better fighter than Lance. He might even be a better pilot. At his best Keith could take down more Galra with his bayard than anyone else on the team.

But even with all of Keiths accolades Lance was undoubtedly the better paladin. Lance understood teamwork and team spirit like nobody else. He could look at a person and know exactly what to say to them to get them inspired. Lance was special, unique, irreplaceable.

Anyone could become a good pilot, but no one else could become Lance.

It wasn't until a loud bang went off in the room when Keith realized he had begun drifting off to sleep.

It was Allura. She had slammed down a stack of paper onto the desk near Keith and was looking at him. Her eyes showed how angry she was. Keith's head snapped to attention.

"Keith, you need to take better care of yourself."

"What?" He wasn't sure what to say.

"No. I don't want to hear anything you have to say right now. You look awful. You need sleep. You haven't been keeping up on training. At this rate I'm going to ban you from doing any missions. If we manage to find Lance, _you_ won't get to go rescue him. Do you understand?"

"I'm fine. I've been sleeping. I've just been too busy to train."

"Are you too busy to speak to Kolivan too?" Allura pursed her lips, waiting for a response.

"Oh…" Keith was busted on that one.

"He contacted me because you weren't answering. I had to explain the entire situation. He's angry Keith. He desperately needs you on some mission, and you've been ignoring your duties. How could you do that? You put the entire alliance at risk!"

"I...just...I…"

"Save it. I don't need an explanation. It's clear to me that you are not doing well. You've never been a person to avoid your responsibilities, Keith. This is damaging the entire team. We need you at your best. You're the closest thing we have to a leader, even though I know that's not what you want to be." Allura frowned.

Keith stayed silent, thinking. He had done a poor job leading the last time, and this time he was doing even worse. It wasn't a strength of his. It didn't come naturally. Keith felt bad for failing everyone, and he needed to do better.

"I didn't come up here to reprimand you though. That wasn't my purpose. I came up here to tell you that we found information that might lead us to Shiro and needed your help planning our mission, but at this point you'd be more harm than good. You're off mission, Keith."

"Wait! What?!" Keith's mouth dropped open.

"We found a base that we're sure has the information on Shiro's whereabouts. I wanted you to be in on the mission, but I'm not going to jeopardize it because you're in poor condition. I've decided. You're staying here and getting some _sleep_. Matt will have to be back up and help us in a fighter ship."

"But I could help!" Even to his own ears it sounded feeble.

"In your condition you can barely stand. You're staying here and to make sure you sleep I'm going to have Pidge shut you out of the main computer too. Comms will stay up, but you will not be able to do anything." Allura crossed her arms. The decision was made.

"But-"

"No. Go to sleep. When you wake up maybe we can talk. But right now I can't have you on mission risking everyone's lives."

Keith nodded, resigned. "I'll go. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to put so much at risk."

Allura nodded too, her posture relaxing a bit. "I understand your worry. You care really deeply for Lance; he's special to you. You can't put that above everything else though. There's a team of people who need you right here."

He nodded at her once more before she left.

Keith had been so irresponsible. He knew why. It wasn't as though his feelings for Lance stopped at being a teammate or a friend. He wasn't sure exactly when it had become more than that, but it definitely was now. He wouldn't have gone so far if he hadn't had feelings for him.

Keith sighed and dropped his head to his hands.

He wasn't quite ready to investigate how deep his feelings went. The entire thing made everything so much more complicated.

Finally Keith decided to move back to his bedroom. He was too tired to think about all of this anyway. Allura was right. He needed sleep.

* * *

Keith spent his nap tossing and turning more than actually sleeping. It was the unfortunate side-effect of having too much to worry about.

He stared up at his ceiling. He counted sheep. He tried to relax his mind by force. _Go to sleep. You're going to sleep now. Fall asleep. Why isn't this working?_

Keith had managed to drift off a few times briefly, only to become wide awake at the thought of Lance dying or Kolivan reprimanding him. After a few hours he decided it was a good attempt and would have to work on it some more later.

Stretching his legs, he hopped back out of bed.

He didn't really want to go see Allura. She would definitely be mad at him for not trying to sleep longer. There was next to no possibility of her letting him on the mission as he was. Keith still needed to know what was happening though. He wanted to be there for his team in whatever capacity he was able to be.

He found them in the common room, working through last minute details.

"Hey everybody." Keith greeted them so that they would notice his presence.

"Hey!" Hunk smiled at Keith.

Pidge smiled too. "Look who's out of their cave of depression."

Allura glared at Pidge. "That's not funny Pidge, he's clearly trying very hard."

"It's okay. I know I've been a bit…" Keith trailed off. Everyone nodded understandingly. "Allura, about this mission…"

"Keith…" Alluras frown deepened. "I know that you want to be included, but I'm not sure that you're at your best right now."

"No...that's...I get it. I'm really not." Keith sighed. It was hard admitting it to himself, but after a couple weeks of next to know sleep or good habits, it was taking its toll on him. "I just want to know what the plan is, see if I can help you all work through it."

Allura brightened. "Yes, of course! Pidge, bring the plans that we have for the base over."

Pidge pulled out a rolled blueprint and rolled it out for Keith to look at. The base was huge, bigger than any base they'd had to infiltrate so far. Keith whistled.

Pidge nodded before beginning to explain. "So this," they said pointing to a spot, "is where the information we need is. The closest entries to get there are," Pidge pointed at two more spots, "here and here."

"Right." Allura chimed in. "So what we thought is that we could use the Green lion's stealth mode to get Pidge and Matt to the entrance. Then they can run through this hallway down towards the the deck. Meanwhile Hunk and I will be running backup in our Lions in case they're spotted. Coran will stay and look after the Castle with you and be ready in case anything goes wrong."

Keith thought for a moment. "That seems like a good plan, pretty standard for us except for being down a few people. We haven't done a mission on a base this big though. There's no Voltron to save you if things go bad. Do you think it will work?"

Allura looked down at the plans, her face set. "It has to work. I assume the base will be more heavily guarded than the usual one, but otherwise it should be a fairly standard mission. As long as we're stealthy enough everything should go according to plan."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Well, it looks all set. When do you leave?" Keith asked.

"In about an hour."

"That soon?"

"It's the best time to go according to Pidge's calculations. We need our team back together. We don't have time to waste." Allura said. She looked stressed, but also settled on the plan ahead.

He helped them pack up the ships and get ready. Allura had him promise to get some more sleep and that he wouldn't use the time to search for Lance. He agreed.

All too soon they were flying out of the hangar and Coran was on his way to the control room to check on one thing or another.

Red seemed to stare at Keith.

"I know...I know, but I can't go with them. We've got to look after the Castle." Keith muttered before storming away, ignoring the prick of irritation on his neck.

Coran twisted his mustache. "You know...in the Darbi Clan on Planet Wixemus they say that talking to yourself is a sign of genius. That's why I do it everyday."

Keith shot him a glare. If he noticed Coran didn't let on though. He just whistled as he walked away down the hall.

Without Coran to distract him Keith wandered aimlessly around the castle for a few minutes. He wanted to at least try to fall asleep again, but that wasn't going to happen if his mind kept racing. His feet moved forward down the halls.

He could try to get some training in. Keith's body itched for a chance to fight a robot. His muscles felt weak from sitting so much recently. As tired as he was though, there was a good chance Keith would end up injured instead. It was better to wait until he had someone else to train with...and drag him to the med bay if needed.

He was lost in his own thoughts as he walked the halls of the castle. Keith's footsteps tapped on the ground beneath him, making a soothing sound almost like a heartbeat.

Then, when he realized where he was, his footsteps stopped all of a sudden. The hallway was familiar. It wasn't as though he had come here often, but when you were a Paladin of Voltron you needed to talk to your teammates sometimes. It could be life or death to know where their rooms were in an emergency.

A few more steps and Keith would find himself in front of Lance's door.

"You're not going in there." Keith said aloud even though it was to himself, as though saying it aloud would be more convincing. He thought of how proud the Darbi Clan would probably be.

 _But what if there's a clue?_

"Lotor threw out all of his stuff, there's nothing in there."

 _But…_

"You promised Allura. You need sleep."

He really, _really_ , wanted to stay true to his promise to Allura. A part of himself knew he had lost as soon as he noticed where he was.

"Just for a second...just to investigate...that's it." His hand reached out for the keypad to unlock the door. It _whooshed_ as it slid open

It looked like just a normal room. There was a bed to one side, made up with a pillow. A large rectangle of metal, which Keith knew to be a desk stood on the other side.

He didn't bother turning on the light inside as he strode into the room. Something about turning it on would make the invasion of privacy seem too real, so Keith just resolved to use the light from the hallway to help him search.

He clicked on each of the desk drawers to open them. There was nothing inside. The room was completely bare.

It didn't look like Lance's room at all anymore.

Lance was something of a collector of things. His room was never as messy as Pidge's. There used to be an organized chaos vibe that Lance's room always had. He'd have all sorts of stuff from the planets they visited, but he'd keep them neat and tidy. Rows of collected items, clothes folded and in their designated spaces, night face cream and water set up by the bed.

Lance's things had been organized as though he was so used to keeping things clean he forgot that there was no one to keep things clean for anymore. They'd all been forced to keep their rooms clean at the Garrison, but Lance never seemed to stop the habit.

Now the room reminded Keith more of his own. No possessions. There was no point in getting attached to things when you're used to moving from place to place.

He sunk onto the bed, suddenly extremely tired. Keith felt wetness fall on his cheek and reached up to wipe it off. He curled in on himself, allowing the bed to catch him. He closed his eyes tightly, determined not to let any more tears through as he hugged the sheets.

Keith breathed in, not realizing what he was searching for until he didn't find it. Even Lance's scent was gone from the place. Keith was greeted with nothing but a soft smell of detergent.

"Dammit Lance! Where are you?!" He shouted it into a mouthful of pillow.

Did Lotor have to be so thorough? Everything in this room was sterile and clean and removed of any personalization. There was nothing here. Keith knew that. It was a waste of his time even though he had nothing better to do. He turned over onto his back, frustrated.

Then Keith's gaze hit the ceiling. Glow in the dark stars had been meticulously placed into constellations. They glowed softly down at him from the ceiling, dim from the lack of light in Lance's room for a while.

Keith laughed. It was shocking to his system that something like that would make him laugh, especially after he had just been in tears a moment before. Only Lance would stick stars onto his ceiling when he would be able to see the real thing out of any window at any time.

It was so childish, and yet Keith found himself mesmerized by it. He counted the three stars on Orion's belt. His finger traced through the air to find Taurus, Aries, and Pisces. He found his favorite constellations Cygnus not far off.

It was such a detailed map, it must have taken Lance ages to get it right. If Keith squinted it looked just like the night sky on Earth.

And then it hit him.

Of course Lance would have stuck stars onto his ceiling. Of course he would have been so meticulous. Lance missed Earth. He had been homesick ever since he arrived at the Castle.

If Lance wasn't able to find the Castle of Lions, maybe he would try to find the one other familiar place in the universe.

It was a long shot, but it was more than what Keith had been able to figure out in the past few jumped out of the bed, messing up the covers even further than he had already.

Rushing out of the room, he made his way quickly for the main computer. He ran past the control room where he heard Coran shou, "Keith! Hey!" Keith ignored him, focused on the task at hand.

He dashed to the computer, already starting to type before even sitting down. There was no way for him to look into communications on Earth. It wasn't one of the planets that aliens frequented. There had to be some other planet or base or anything nearby that Lance might be able to communicate with. Why hadn't Keith thought of this before?

"What are you doing?" Coran's voice made Keith jump out of his focus.

"I'm...uh...searching for Lance."

"What was the one thing the Princess requested you were not to do while she was away?"

"Uh...search for Lance." Keith sighed. "But I think-"

"I won't hear this rate you'll get blocked from using the computer for a week when Princess Allura gets back."

"No, Coran, I really think I've found someth-"

Coran approached the computer next to Keith and began toggling buttons. "The Princess gave me strict instructions that if I were to find you searching for Lance I was to reprimand you and then force you to call Kolivan, since you think you've slept enough to be of use to a search mission."

"I...uh…" It wasn't as though calling Kolivan was unimportant to Keith, it just wasn't the most important thing to him at the moment.

With the communication already set up, though, Keith would just have to get through the call as quickly as possible. He needed to repair the damage he had done. He sighed in resignation. Lance would have to wait just a little while longer.

"Keith. I'm glad you've finally contacted me." The screen Coran had been messing with lit up with Kolivan's face.

"Hello, Kolivan. I'm sorry for not communicating with you sooner. I...uh...I was busy." Keith was sure any excuse he had given would have gotten the same justified angry look.

"I understand the amount of additional work that Voltron must be causing you, but this was part of your agreement to the Blade. If you're unable to complete your duties you should not have taken them in the first place."

"I agree. Voltron has needed me recently and I wasn't sure if or when I would be back with the Blade. I should have reached out."

"Yes, I understand that. The reason I contacted you however I have a mission that I've needed you for this past week. I can't have anyone else do it because I need the green lion."

Keith's ears perked up on that note. He wasn't sure what the Blade would need with Green. It was unusual for them to ask for help, especially from Voltron. They hardly knew Pidge, and so they were relying pretty heavily on Keith to convince his allies to help.

Kolivan continued. "There's been a ship that's been appearing near our base in the Plagar system. It's had its distress beacon on and it's shown up several time in the past couple of weeks. Our immediate thought was that it was an obvious trap, trying to lure us out to help it. But then it attacked a Galra ship that approached it so we have had to assume that it could be a rebel ship trying to find the resistance."

Keith nodded as Kolivan spoke, but something urged him to look at the galaxy map he had managed to pull up on the other screen. He immediately found Earth, in the middle of the system he was most familiar with. His eyes tracked over the map, looking at the nearest most systems.

If it bothered Kolivan that Keith was no longer paying his full attention, he didn't let it show. "The base is well hidden so this usually wouldn't be a problem to send some of our people out to take care of this ship, one way or another, but there's a Galra fleet nearby looking for our base as well. They're armed and ready to attack at any provocation. If we send any ships out ourselves they would be able to find the base easily and attack."

 _There._ "The Plagar system!" Keith found what he was looking for in the map. A solar system close enough to Earth for a certain Paladin to be looking for help near.

Kolivan stopped what he was saying and stared at Keith. "Yes...do you know it? I'm trying to explain that this mission needs a great amount of stealth so we want the green lion to-"

"There isn't time for that! I'm coming." He ended the communication with jumped out of his seat.

Coran stepped in his way. "And just where do you think you're going? Sit down like a good Merinfollop and call back Kolivan."

"No time! Coran, don't you get it? It's Lance!" Keith just about shouted it.

"What's Lance?"

"The Plagar system! The ship that's been trying to find the resistance!"

Coran looked confused by the leap in logic Keith had made, but he was shocked enough to not resist when Keith ran around him heading towards the hangar.

As soon as Keith had run past, Coran's brain seemed to catch up. "Just wait a moment, Keith! The others will be back in a few hours and then you'll all be able to figure out a plan."

"No time! Lance could set off that Galra fleet at any moment. Tell Allura to hyperjump to my location once she's back!"

"But…"

Whatever Coran said last, Keith didn't hear him. He was already too far down the corridor on his way to Red. He was going to rescue Lance whatever it took.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahhh! They've found each other Finally!

I meant to get this chapter out sooner to all of you but the holidays definitely kept me busier than I expected. I'm glad it's done now though!

Happy reading!


	15. Chapter 14

It didn't take long for Keith to hop into the Red lion, or to make a jump into the Plagar system at the coordinates Kolivan had sent. In next to no time he was exactly where he needed to be to search for Lance's ship. Keith's impatience made even the short time to the Plagar system feel like an eternity though.

Keith knew where the secret base was, and had to be careful not to get too close to them or to the Galra fleet that Kolivan had warned about. Now that he was here, he slightly regretted not listening to the full rundown Kolivan had tried to give him. He would just have to do his best with the information he had.

Pressing some buttons, he took a moment to open up Red's communication to other ships and frequencies. It had to be enough. Lance had to be here somewhere. Keith could almost feel it.

"Red, do you sense anything?" He touched the lion's control panel gently. "Please look for him."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to connect himself to her as much as possible. _Come on...come on…_

 _There!_

Red's senses pulled at a point just beyond the comm system's reach. Keith took no time gunning the engines and speeding toward the point she had sensed.

Red was the fastest. Keith was glad for a moment that she was his lion out of anyone else on their team. She could be frustrating and stubborn, but when she or her paladin were determined there was nothing that could stand in their way.

Keith left the communication with Red as open as possible, to listen to her directions as he steered. He felt her call to him to stop, and without hesitation pulled at the breaks.

He looked out into the empty blackness of space, expecting to see a ship, but saw nothing instead. Looking down at the monitor he saw the distress beacon lighting up right in the area he was in..

Suddenly a voice filtered through his open comm system.

"Keith?"

It was Lance. Lance had said those words. Lance was alive! He had said Keith's name!

"Lance? You're alive!" Keith shouted. A ship appeared in front of him, each panel appearing one at a time, whirring to life as it dropped its cloaking device.

"You found me." Lance sounded relieved.

"Yes. Of course." Keith wished he could see Lance's face, but for now his voice would have to do. He drank it in.

"Where are the others? Actually first I need to tell you about Shiro. He-"

"I know. That's actually where they are, they're looking for the real Shiro. They'll join us soon."

"Not soon enough. Keith, look at your screen!"

Keith looked down at it shocked to see several dots of Galra ships flying towards them. "Uh oh."

"Did you call a whole fleet here? Weren't you careful at all?"

"No...I kind of just rushed into it." Keith immediately regretted not being a bit more careful.

"The hot-head as always." Lance sighed. "How long before the others will get here?"

"It'll be a few hours at least."

"No chance to outrun them then. We'll have to fight."

"Are you crazy? There's at least 50 ships." Keith shook his head even though he knew Lance couldn't see.

"What? Are you scared or something? I bet I can shoot down twice as many as you." Lance pressed the button to cloak his ship once more. It disappeared before Keith's eyes.

Keith sighed, knowing he'd lost. Lance was right, they wouldn't be able to outrun them long enough for Allura to show up. He also wasn't sure what condition Lance's ship was in. It was better to fight now than risk running out of fuel later. It was just like Lance to challenge Keith to a duel when they were about to get gunned down by enemies too.

"Fine. So what's the plan sharpshooter?"

Lance laughed. "The plan's Galaga. Shoot or get shot!" Keith saw a blast go off from the empty space where the ship had disappeared. "That's one, Keith! Better hurry up or get left in the dust!"

"That's cheating! You started early!" Keith turned to face the enemies coming in.

"All's fair in love and war." Another shot basted from empty space. "That's two."

"Fine!" Keith yelled over the comm. He pretended to be mad, but really Keith was just happy to hear Lance's voice again. It made him happy to be working together as a team, even if he really wanted something more than just bantering back and forth. For now though it was time to get serious. He focused his energy on the enemies coming towards them.

He shot the tail laser at two ships coming directly towards Red. A beam of light shot out and the ships tried to dodge, but ultimately did have enough space. He clipped one's wing ultimately sending it crashing into two others.

"That's three!" Keith yelled over the comm. "You're going to regret challenging me."

"Hardly," Lance laughed. "I just got two more!"

"Oh it's on!"

The feeling was almost surreal as Keith and Lance battled it out on something they were both good at. Keith could tell that Lance's piloting skills were getting better, and of course it didn't help that Keith's aim was suffering from a lack of sleep. Still, though, Keith found himself incredibly happy, even while facing down a ton of enemy combatants.

They were working together as easily as if they were of one mind. Lance's invisible ship would dart around taking out enemies while they were focused on Red. Keith would take whatever enemies approached head on, never having to worry about getting shot from behind. His teammate always had his back.

Some of the smaller ships made way for a much larger Galra ship approaching. It had massive cannons on each side poised at a spot above Red. The Galra flying it were intelligent, trying to pinpoint Lance's ship by where the lasers were coming from.

"Lance! Watch out!" Keith yelled.

He couldn't see whether Lance's ship dodged the blast that came, and had to wait for the voice over the comms to yell, "Thanks Keith!"

Before the cannon could warm up a second time Keith was already flying fast toward the ship with Red's jaw blade ready. He sliced through one canon all the way up to the ship, damaging it severely.

It flew away from him, trying to aim the still intact canon. Keith shot at it with his laser, aiming for the already weakened part of the ship he had damaged.

An explosion wracked the ship, setting off a chain reaction. Keith smiled, successful.

"That still only counts as one!" Lance shouted in his ear.

"Oh come on!" Keith's gruff voice didn't match his emotion. A smile beamed across his face as he turned to face more Galra flying at him.

This was actually fun.

He was working together with Lance, competing over something stupid. It was as though he never left. Strong friendships were like that.

The two boys dove around each other in complicated patterns. There wasn't a galra ship in existence that could stand a chance against them.

As though they could read minds the Galra suddenly scattered. They flew away in every direction. Keith continued to shoot towards a couple before they got too far.

"Where are they going?" Lance asked the question that was on both of their minds.

"Don't know. Maybe they realized it was hopeless?" A knot in Keith's stomach tightened. He knew how the Galra fought, they weren't the type to run away, even if they were losing.

"I think we should run. Something doesn't feel right."

Before Keith could agree a field of energy blossomed around them. The electricity knocked Keith to the back of his seat. Blasted back he heaved for a moment from the shock.

What was that? If it could make it through the lion's defenses he hated to think what would have happened if he was in just a normal ship.

"Lance!? Lance!? Are you alright?" Keith blinked his eyes to stare through the window at where he had last seen the other ship's guns fire. To his surprise the ship blinked in and out of sight before becoming completely entire area around both of them was covered in a purple energy field.

"Keith, can you-me. My comm-are acting up. I think it took-cloaking down."

"Lance, you're breaking up! We've got to get out of here!" He shouted into the comms as though that would help Lance understand easier.

"Keith! Behind-ou!"

Keith understood a moment too late. As he pulled at Red's controls to whip her around a beam of light shot out and crashed into him.

The shockwave blasted Red another fifty meters from Lance's ship, sending them spiraling. Keith pulled at the controls to try to get Red back under control.

"Kei-th!" Lance's voice yelled over the comms.

"I'm okay!" Keith watched as Lance's ship shot towards him. A couple more blasts shot out, this time directed at Lance. Keith breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Lance dance around them.

He swung Red around to face whatever adversary had shot at them. Keith was expecting a large ship, but instead what he saw made his stomach drop.

It was the size of Voltron. A giant white robot with wings the size of one of their lions loomed in front of them. It had the head of a lion, and one large visor that glowed bright purple where the eyes would have been. It was larger than Voltron. It looked more deadly than Voltron too.

"What-that!?" Lance's voice came over the comm. It sounded worried.

Keith looked at the purple that came glowing from the visor. He wasn't sure exactly when or how this ship came to be, but he knew who had to be responsible.

"Lotor." Keith's voice came out as more of a growl.

This must have been what he was doing with the rest of the comet. Only that comet could have formed something so massive and dangerous.

Keith didn't want to think about how much time building it must have taken. It was time they had spent trusting Lotor. If they had just focused on taking down the Galra without involving him maybe they would have had a chance. Instead they had given him everything he needed to build a bigger more powerful replica.

Lotor had been able to walk aboard their lions. He'd been able to take whatever schematics he needed and send them into his colleagues hands. In front of them now was the result of their own foolishness.

They had handed Voltron over into Galra hands, just not in the way they expected to.

"-eith! We need-come up with a-lan" Lance's voice was still breaking through the comm systems.

"Yeah! Any ideas on how to get away from that monster?" Keith was drawing a blank and he couldn't be sure what Lance's ship could do.

"Mayb-I don't like-but if I-ch the ship-take Red and-"

"I didn't understand any of that! Lance!" Keith whipped around again to try to watch Lance's ship, see if he could get some indication of what Lance was saying."

"Keith!-out!"

He watched as Lance's ship darted forward toward him. Lance's words had been meant to help Keith, but had distracted him once again Keith was late in responding as the blast of purple light shot out at Red.

Keith turned and watched, as though in slow motion, as the blast of light flew towards him. He steeled himself for impact, knowing there was no way to avoid it.

Just before the blast hit, a hard impact came from Keith's left, pushing Red out of the way.

Keith was shocked. He wondered for a moment what it had been before realizing. Lance had been flying toward him in that direction. He had purposefully collided with Red to save them.

Keith turned towards Lance's ship, watched as the purple light enveloped its already severely damaged hull.

"LANCE! LAAAANNNCE!" Keith screamed it into his helmet, but he already knew it was no use.

The ship was blasted backwards from the force. The side that had smashed into Red was completely indented, entire panels torn off. The wires underneath were visible, tangled, some torn by the impact and floating as debris in space.

That alone would have killed the pilot. But the blast of light from Lotor's ship had torn a hole right through the middle of it as well. It sliced through the metal as easy as if it were butter.

When the light dissipated Keith watched the ship spin away from him. There were now two distinct halves, mangled, burnt, and melted, careening away at high speed.

"NOOOO!" Keith yelled, watching. He looked for its pilot, swallowing the bile that was rising in his throat.

He felt dizzy and as though he was going to throw up. He tried to calm himself by yelling. "LANCE! YOU DON'T GET TO LEAVE ME LIKE THAT! YOU DON-ON'T GET TO d-die-" He said it quieter, nearly choking on the word. "not on your own rescue mission…"

Keith trailed off. He could barely see. He felt himself blacking out from his panic, had to force himself to fight through it as the edges of his vision blurred into a tunnel. He needed to stay aware, or he wasn't going to make it out of this fight with Lotor either.

He yelled again. "I DIDN'T GET TO TELL YOU ANYTHING! IDIOT! I DIDN'T GET TO TELL YOU HOW I-how I feel…" He choked on his words again.

His body was wracked with sobs. He doubled over, feeling severe pain somewhere in his body that his brain couldn't quite place.

Keith had lost fights before, but he had never lost as much as in this one.

* * *

 **A/N:** Happy Valentines Day...?

I'm so sorry for leaving this story for so long. I'm so sorry for this cliffhanger. And I'm even more sorry that I have no idea when I'll get the next chapter.

In other news the story is taking so long between chapters because I'm having an excellent time travelling the world and not because I want to stop writing it. Currently in Italy! Ciao!


	16. Chapter 15

"-EITH!"

Keith's head snapped up at the sound of the voice. It was such a sudden sound that Keith almost thought he had imagined it. He listened closely to the comm, but nothing but static greeted his ear.

"LANCE?" He shouted it as though it would somehow make a difference.

No voice came.

Keith was sure he had heard Lance though. Lance was either alive or Keith was hearing things. Either way Keith needed to figure out where it could be coming from.

Keith took a breath before looking at Lance's ship again. It was so torn up that there was almost no way a body could be in there.

So if Lance wasn't in the wreckage, where could he…

Keith quickly spun red around looking upward above where the initial crash had been.

"Idiot." Keith wasn't sure whether he was saying it more to Lance or to himself.

Sure enough Lance was frantically waving one arm at Red, floating out in open space where he had ejected himself from his ship just before the crash. One of his hands was pressed against his side tightly, the other waving in the air at him. Keith shot towards Lance carefully, making sure to stop just short of him so that Red could scoop Lance up in her mouth.

The bay doors opened and a wobbly Lance fell through them right into Keith.

"That was so reckless and stupid! What kind of idiot are you?!" Keith yelled, as he pushed Lance off of him.

"I didn't do anything you wouldn't have done, and _I'm_ the idiot?" Lance winced as he stood up from the floor. He pulled off his helmet, being careful to keep his right hand still pressed to his side. "You should have been paying attention!"

Keith wanted to respond, but for once Lance was actually right. Keith should have been paying attention. It wouldn't have been dangerous at all if Keith had just scanned the area instead of freaking out about a smashed ship. It was obvious Lance would have a backup plan. He was _Lance_.

Instead of responding Keith just swallowed and said quietly. "You could have died."

Lance looked down at the floor. His expression softened a bit before he caught Keith's eyes again. "Hey...I just...I just knew I could trust you to get me and all. Jumping out of a ship like that is only dangerous if you can't trust your teammates to catch you. And I'll always trust you. Besides it would have worked perfectly if not for faulty comms." Lance laughed at his own joke and winced again.

"What's wrong?" Keith looked down at Lance's side, he could see red liquid beginning to drip through his fingertips.

"It's nothing, just hurry up and get us out of here."

"But-"

"Go!" Lance almost yelled. "Before Lotor fires his cannon at us again."

Keith jumped into the cockpit, knowing that it was the right decision to make, but all he could think was that Lance's trust for him went deeper than he deserved.

Keith's hands moved at the controls like they were extensions of himself. In a way they were. Red and him had a connection, she listened to his commands almost before he thought them.

Red spun around again, racing away from Lotor and whatever guns he was aiming at them. At some point they'd have to fight him. A lion robot in Lotor's hands couldn't be ignored, but they'd need to form Voltron to even have a chance.

Maybe if Keith was alone he would do something reckless to try to take down Lotor, but all of Keith's thoughts were consumed by the other pilot in the cockpit. He could hear Lance's loud breathing and didn't want to think how much of that may have been caused by the pain from the wound at his side. For now their only choice was to run.

In safety Keith could make sure Lance was okay.

Keith dodged the blast that he saw coming. Red swerved under it, barely missing the white light. Keith spun her around again, changing directions and hoping to confuse Lotor for long enough to get further away.

Without two ships to worry about all of Lotor's attention was on Red. But Keith could say the same. With Lance safely next to him instead of in a wreck of a ship, Keith had no reason to break his concentration. He could fly with the full extent of his skills.

Lotor sent a series of blasts after Red. His Lion was bigger than Red by a lot. More powerful as well. Red was still faster though. Keith could dodge the blasts as they came. It wasn't easy. A blast knicked Red's leg and sent the ship spinning.

"Crap." Keith mumbled under his breath as he spun the controls the other way to get Red back on the right course.

"We need help, there's no way we can survive this thing for long."

"What do you suggest?" Keith yelled through gritted teeth as he pulled Red around again, dodging yet another series of blasts.

"Red's comm systems are up right?"

"Yeah, but we're way too far to contact Voltron."

"We might not be able to contact Voltron, but the rebels should be able to, they're all over the galaxy!"

"Hurry! We don't have much time!"

Lance immediately got to work setting up communications with the rebel fleet.

"Kolivan! This is Lance, paladin of Voltron, currently copiloting the Red lion. We need backup! Lotor has created a massive lion ship that he's using to chase us down. We can't hold him off by ourselves. We need you to contact Voltron and send them an urgent message from us."

A new voice filtered out of the speaker in Keith's ear. "What?! Keith I thought I told you to stay away from the Galra fleet!"

Keith grimaced.

Lance responded before Keith could. "Yes, we understand. Right now we don't need need a lecture, though. We need help! It's a ship with unknown capabilities and we have no idea just how much damage it could cause to the rebels, Voltron, or countless innocent lives."

Kolivan was silent for a moment on the other end of the line. Maybe out of shock or calculating what to do. "I will figure out how to contact them. You'll have to stay alive until they can get there!"

The communication cut off.

"Hopefully that will work. We need them here soon." Keith said, making Red duck around another blast.

Lance's breathing beside him seemed to get a bit heavier, more labored. Keith spent a moment of his focus worrying about him, before yet another blast set his mind back to the task at hand.

Keith dodged more blasts as they came and shot forward once again. Lotor was keeping him on his toes. It didn't matter how fast Red was or how good Keith was at piloting her. He couldn't seem to gain any ground.

"Lance!" Keith said, with sudden inspiration, "I'm not able to outrun him. I need you to come up with a temporary exit plan."

If Lance was talking that would mean Keith could focus just on flying and wouldn't have to worry about his...friend slowly bleeding out.

"Okay, let me think for a minute." Lance wracked his brain, gritting his teeth through pain.

"No time, you only have a few seconds."

"Oh come on, Keith, you're the best pilot out of all of us, surely you can keep Lotor off your tail for longer than that."

Lance said it so casually, Keith wasn't sure if he'd realized what he said. It fueled Keith with pride, he didn't even want to ruin the moment by rubbing it in. He couldn't resist though. "I'm the what?"

Lance let out a sigh. "Don't rub it in. I didn't mean to say it."

"Oh, but I've been waiting for you to admit it since we met."

Another sigh, "Keith…" and then, "KEITH! Watch out!"

This time Keith had seen the blast coming. He swerved to avoid it, but couldn't quite get Red fully out of the way. It struck her hind legs and sent them spinning again.

"LANCE. PLAN. NOW!" He yelled.

"Aauurggh-" Lance let out a noise of frustration. "Okay!"

"Okay you have a plan or okay you're coming up with one?"

"Not really a plan, but if we can't get away from Lotor by running we've got to try to hide."

"Brilliant," Keith said sarcastically, "and just where do you suggest we do that."

"No, I think...I think there's a way. There's an asteroid field near the planet Nikopei, it's got a gravitational field that messes with sensors, if we can get there I bet we can lose him."

"How do you know that?"

"I flew around here a lot when I was looking for the resistance base. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."

Keith nodded. "Alright. Where am I going?"

"Just a moment."

Keith watched in his peripheral vision as Lance stood up and started keying in coordinates to Red's computer. He did it one handed, his other hand still pressed to his side. His teeth were gritted, whether in concentration or from pain Keith didn't know.

Keith watched as Lance's arm moved to a different monitor. His neck muscles tightened briefly as he concentrated. A small bead of sweat dripped down from his hairline. Had his arm arm muscles always been so prominent?

It had been a few weeks since Keith had last seen Lance. His hair had gotten slightly longer, he needed a haircut. The cowlick on the back stuck up as usual though. Lance's eyes had hints of circles underneath them. He clearly hadn't been getting as much sleep as usual. Keith felt concern wash over himself briefly. But Lance's skin was as smooth as ever, in Red's lighting his brown skin glowed slightly. Keith wanted to reach out and touch his cheek. He was so close.

Keith cleared his throat as he felt his face turning red. He focused back on dodging while Lance worked. If they were going to get out of this alive Keith couldn't risk getting distracted.

Lance didn't seem to notice. "Okay, got the coordinates up. Time to fly." Lance lightly slapped Keith's shoulder, making him jump.

"Uh…" Keith cleared his throat again hoping Lance hadn't noticed. "Great. Thanks."

Lance shot him a puzzled look. "Wha-"

"Let's go." Keith made Red shoot forward.

The sudden lurch forced Lance to take a step backward to steady himself. He grabbed the back of Keith's chair for balance. Keith pretended not to feel Lance's fingers lightly touching his shoulder.

The coordinates sent them back in the direction they came from. Keith turned Red around sharply to face Lotor's lion.

"What are you doing?" Lance asked.

"What's it look like?"

"It looks like you're about to run us straight into Lotor."

"That's where the field is." Keith had a determined look in his eyes.

"But isn't there an easier, less direct route?"

"Nope!"

Keith rammed the controls forward. Red spurred into life, flying directly towards Lotor's ship.

Lotor's guns fired on them, once, twice. The third one blasted just past Red's tail. Keith aimed Red right towards the glass paneling in the lion's head. He told himself it was because there were no guns there, but in truth Keith just wanted to get close enough to see Lotor's stupid face alive with fear.

Red careened towards Lotor at high velocity. Within feet of Lotor, Keith all of a sudden spun the controls, changing direction at the last possible moment. Red curved around the other lion, nearly skimming it.

Lance whooped. "Woah! Yes!"

Keith allowed himself to have a stupid grin on his face, even as he said, "Don't celebrate just yet."

It took Lotor several seconds to gain enough composure to turn his lion around. By that time Red had gotten a solid lead.

Several blasts rang out from Lotor's ship. Keith dodged easily.

"Lance!"

"One step ahead of ya, buddy!" Lance was at the controls this time firing Red's guns back whenever he could get a shot in.

If they could maintain this distance, they had a real chance to lose Lotor in the asteroid field.

Keith focused on gaining more speed. With Lance's blasts forcing Lotor to dodge, it meant Lotor couldn't fire as many of his own. Keith didn't have to put his full attention on dodging anymore.

"Almost there!" Keith could see planet Nikopei to their left as they sped past.

As promised the asteroid field was nearby. The moment Keith spotted it the sensors immediately started going haywire.

"Woah." Keith said, slowing down for a second.

"Don't worry, I told you this would happen. It's just like when we had to fly through that red energy field searching for Lotor. This time's the same, except we're using it to our advantage! Keep going!"

"Right!" Keith ignored as the sensors started beeping one by one and continued forward.

"I'll keep visual on Lotor and let you know when we're in the clear. Just focus on piloting."

Keith nodded. He gritted his teeth and pushed Red forward faster still. He was thankful to have Lance watching their backs. It would have been a suicide mission with just him. He tried to avoid thinking _it almost was._

The asteroid field loomed in Keith's vision. It was larger than he originally thought. Some of the asteroids were the size of small planets. Lance had been spot on. There wasn't a better place to hide from Lotor.

Keith put his piloting skills to the test. He dodged around aesteriods, turning Red sharply every few seconds. He tried to fly as unpredictable as possible to lose Lotor.

He whipped around again. Keith heard Lance send a few blasts out at first, but then he stopped, suddenly growing still.

"Find a place to land. I think we're clear." He said.

Keith obliged. They landed on one of the larger asteroids. It was easily the size of the Earth's moon.

Lance sighed with relief and allowed himself to collapse on the floor.

"Finally."

Keith allowed himself to look at Lance before shutting off the lights. Sweat mingled with the hair on his brow. He looked slightly paler than before. Maybe it was just the lighting, but Keith swore his brown skin was tinted slightly green. One of his hands was still pressed to his side. The area around his hand was clearly stained with blood now, a much larger spot than before.

"Right. Time to tell me how bad it really is." Keith said, frowning.

"It's not important I think it's just bleeding a lot."

"Really?" Keith knelt down and gently pressed on Lance's hand.

Lance yelped in pain. "Okay, and it hurts pretty bad too."

"I'll go get the first aid kit." Keith went to stand up, but Lance grabbed his wrist suddenly.

"Keith...I...I wanted to say thanks."

It shocked Keith to hear Lance be so sincere. "It was nothing…"

"No, I mean it. A part of me wasn't sure if I'd ever...make it back to Voltron."

His voice got slightly choked up on the last words. Keith could tell he was trying to keep his voice steady, not wanting to let it show just how important his words were to him. Keith could just make out the outline of Lance in the dark.

It was better that way, easier to be honest without needing to look into each other's eyes.

"I will always come and find you." Keith said simply.

Keith paused for a second, allowing himself some solace in Lance's touch on his wrist, before breaking contact and standing up all the way. He moved to the back of the ship, where he knew the first aid supplies were located.

He found himself glad, for a second time, that it was too dark on the ship for them to clearly see each other. Keith wasn't sure what expression he had on his face, but he was positive it would reveal too much.

Grabbing the box of supplies, he took a breath. He steeled himself, making himself calmer. It was all of his combat training being put to the test. He just hadn't expected it to be used in something other than combat. He pulled out a glow cube to help him light the way back to Lance.

The soft orange light just illuminated to the front of the ship, where Keith could make out Lance struggling to remove his shirt.

"What are you-?!" The question died in Keith's throat. He realized the answer almost immediately.

"What?" Lance looked back at the light. "You were planning on bandaging me through the shirt?"

"No...sorry...I was just being stupid for a second." Keith kneeled down once again and helped pull Lance free.

Without the shirt and with the glowing cube nearby Keith could see Lance's wound more clearly. It was deep, a piece of the antenna or whatever it was that had made the wound was still sticking out of it. Keith knew better than to remove it. There was a possibility of more damage rather than if he just trimmed it down and covered it as best he could.

It didn't seem like it had hit anything important. Lance was still able to stand and the blood seemed to be slowing. Lance would definitely need a healing pod for a while, and sooner was better than later. But it wouldn't kill him as long as it was treated within the next day. Keith breathed a sigh of relief.

He barely allowed himself to touch Lance's chest as he worked. It was unavoidable of course, but he tried his best to not allow any physical touches to linger.

Keith wrapped the bandage around Lance's torso several times, and with a last bit of tape he finished. He went to pull his hands away, regretting not lingering on the muscles longer, but allowing a final appreciation of them.

Lance's hand grabbed one of Keith's before he could pull it away entirely.

"Keith." He breathed.

Keith met his eyes, questioning, unsure of what Lance wanted.

Lance opened his mouth to say something. Before a sound could come out a loud rumble came from below them.

Red was still turned off, so it had to be…

"Lance!" Keith yelled. He grabbed hold of him before the explosion hit.

A crack appeared on the asteroid below Red's torso. It grew, suddenly, becoming a fissure, before the entire rock was blasted apart. Bright light appeared and sent pieces of the asteroid flying. The force sent Red careening back through space, bumping into other pieces of debris as she went.

Keith held on tightly to Lance as they were sent flying within Red. He felt his back slam against Red's ceiling, completely winding him. Almost immediately a different impact made Red spin in a different direction entirely. Keith and Lance were pitched into the controls, Keith's side slamming into the chair. He could feel the bruise already forming.

Finally Red seemed to still enough for Keith to scramble to his feet. He helped pull Lance up too and they stared at the empty space where the moon sized asteroid had been only moments before.

"No way." Lance said.

Keith couldn't say anything, but he agreed with Lance's sentiment. What kind of canon could blast apart an asteroid that big? It wasn't the sort of weapon that existed in this universe.

Beyond the asteroid the white lion hovered. They could almost feel the energy radiating out of the pilot's seat, as though Lotor was smirking and saying, "Found you."

"What do we do!?" Keith scrambled towards the controls as quickly as he could, turning Red back on and getting his footing once again.

"What can we do?!" Lance yelled back. There was an edge of panic in his voice.

Keith stopped what he was doing to turn around and grab Lance's shoulders, spinning him around to face each other. He emphasized each word as he said them. "You can figure this out. There's got to be _something_. You're way better at plans than I am."

Lance seemed to calm down a bit.

"I'll pilot. You think." Keith spun back around to the controls, scrambling to get everything set before sitting down and grabbing the joysticks. "Ready?"

"Go!"

They took off, away from Lotor, dodging around the asteroids as quickly as they could.

Lance was at the guns again, keeping Lotor as far away as he could manage so that Keith's sole focus could be on piloting. "There's no chance for a plan, Keith! This is it unless Voltron gets here soon."

Keith didn't want this to be the end. He was so close to rescuing Lance. "No, there's gotta be something!"

"What's there gotta be?" A new voice spoke up through the comms.

"Hunk!" Lance yelled.

"Lance!" Hunk yelled back. "I am so glad to hear your voice again!"

"No time for a reuinion now! We need a wormhole! It's the only way!" Keith yelled.

Allura's voice spoke through the comm this time. "We cannot let Lotor wormhole with us. I can create one, but we have to keep Lotor far enough at bay or it won't work!"

"Understood!" Lance yelled. "Allura, focus on making the wormhole. Pidge! You follow Allura closely and make sure she knows the moment everyone gets through so she can close it."

"Understood!" Pidge and Allura's voices chimed together.

"Hunk, you've got the most powerful cannon. Send some blasts directed at his left side to keep him off balance and from flying straight. Then hurry up and follow the others! Me and Keith will pull up the rear since Red is the fastest."

"Got it!" Hunk yelled.

Keith and Lance watched as Yellow dove down below them and set off his canon.

"And how exactly are we going to keep Lotor at bay long enough to escape through the wormhole?" Keith asked.

"Exactly how we've already been doing it. You focus on piloting, and I'll use the guns." Lance nudged Keith's shoulder. "Or don't you trust me, I thought you said I was the plan guy?"

Keith let out a laugh despite himself.

"Alright, lets do this!"

Hunk set off several blasts before speeding back towards the others.

Keith kept close to Hunk, still making sure Yellow was in front of him, but that he was far enough away that no blasts would get near Hunk. Lance busied himself with the guns again.

Keith watched as the wormhole appeared, and Pidge and Allura quickly disappeared into it. He sped up, using as much power as he could to ensure he caught up with Hunk at the last minute.

They both watched as one of Lotor's claws tried to grab at Red at the last moment. Lance sent several blasts. They connected knocking the hand away at the last moment as they tumbled through the wormhole.

It closed at the very moment Red's tail passed through.

* * *

 **A/N:** Keith rescued ya boi! Finally! So sorry about all the angst in the last chapter. But hey! Everything worked out in the end! :D

So I really really wanted to finish this story before Season 5 came out, but that obviously didn't happen. To be fair I also wanted to finish this story before I went traveling (got too busy packing and saying goodbye to people and with holiday stuff). I also really wanted to finish this before the end of November (wanted to complete NaNo, holidays threw me off track once again).

So I'm not particularly good with getting things done on time, but no worries because I'm really excellent on getting things done! There are approximately 6 chapters left. I say approximately because half the time my outlined chapters end up turning into two or even three chapters once written, or on occasion I smoosh two together because they didn't quite need as much.

I tell you this to let you know I'm not going to change anything regardless of what happened in this season. Nothing from season 5 will get taken into account.

I am going to try really hard to start posting weekly or more since I desperately want to get the rest of this out before season 6 airs. That being said, things might happen. I'm still in the middle of traveling, and I have many good excuses besides.


	17. Chapter 16

"What was that?!" Hunk's eyes were wide. He looked to Lance for answers.

"I don't know...I'm just glad we got away from it." Lance patted Hunk's arm.

Upon making their way back to the Castle, all the paladins had collapsed onto the couches out of exhaustion. They were all sweaty and tired looking. Lance had put the top of his suit back on, but Keith noticed how he still looked pale and much more unkempt than usual.

He looked around the common room at the others and noticed how they were sitting around almost like old times. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all taking up space on one couch, while Allura and Coran were on another. The addition of Matt next to Pidge was a welcome sight even if he hadn't been part of the original group. Keith chose to stand against the wall rather than sit with the others.

The space where Shiro would usually sit was empty.

Keith spoke. "That's what Lotor must have been doing with the rest of the comet. We have no idea just how powerful it is."

"It looked like some sort of...white lion." Hunk said, eyes widening even more.

"Lance…" Allura said carefully. "That was terrifying...but we're so glad you're back."

"Me too." Lance agreed.

"Lance, I missed you so much! I thought you had left us forever. I thought I'd never see you again!" Hunk hugged his friend.

"Awe, thanks buddy." Lance's words were muffled under Hunk's arm.

"Yeah, I missed you too." Pidge ruffled Lance's hair while he was trapped.

Lance shot them a quick glare.

"Wait," Keith said suddenly, "how did your mission go?" He looked at Allura.

Allura looked away from Keith, at the floor. "Not good."

"What happened?" Keith was suddenly alert, waiting for her answer.

"We couldn't infiltrate the station. It was too much of a challenge with only three lions. There were too many Galra, and we were stretched too thin. And then Coran called us to tell us you were in trouble, so we were forced to leave before we'd even really started."

"No one got hurt did they?" Lance asked, once again the sound was muffled by Hunk's arm.

"No, fortunately not." Allura said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "But I'm not sure our plan will work again. We'll have to come up with something new.

"We'll figure it out. We have to." Keith said with determination in his eyes.

Lance forced himself free from Hunk and Pidge. "And now that we're all back together, we'll definitely be able to."

"What do you suggest?" Allura asked looking at Lance.

"A healing pod, some food goo, and then a good nap." Lance laughed at his own words. Keith was happy to see him smile again.

Allura, however, frowned.

"What? I can't think on an empty stomach. I think Hunk will agree with me too."

"No, the healing pod. Why-"

"It's nothing major. Keith bandaged me up and I don't think I'm bleeding anymore anyway." Lance said quickly, not wanting to make her or anyone else worried.

"Alright," Allura said, still frowning. "Coran, Keith, will you accompany Lance to the medical bay, and make sure he gets whatever he needs. The rest of us will stay here and try to start coming up with a new plan."

Keith nodded, straightening up and moving to help Lance stand up from the couch before following behind Coran.

Out in the hallway, Lance spoke up again. "Hey, wait, can I stop by my room first and grab a change of clothes. I want to get out of this armor as soon as possible."

"Uhhh." Keith's mouth fell open a bit.

"What's that look for?"

"It's uhhh...well...Lotor."

"What about that purple faced jerk?" Lance frowned.

"He kind of threw out everything in your room when he made it look like you left."

Lance stopped dead in his tracks. "He WHAT?"

Lance tore off in the direction of his room, running straight past Coran and down the hall.

"Wait, Lance, you're going to make your injury worse!" Keith yelled, running after him.

Lance slid to a stop outside of his door, opening it with an expression of horror.

"Keith! It's all gone!" He stepped inside the room. "My clothes, my photos, my collection of weird shaped space rocks!"

He started opening his drawers. Groaning as each one was empty.

Keith approached him, raising his hand out towards Lance's shoulder, then pulling his hand back to his side, thinking better of it. "It'll be okay, you can borrow some of my clothes, or something."

"You are several inches shorter than me, and also the only person that can even come close to pulling off that weird red cutoff jacket of yours."

"Hey! What's wrong with my jacket?" Keith punched him lightly in the shoulder. The punch seemed to help break Lance out of his panic a bit.

"Oh...sorry. I don't mean to take it out on your jacket. It's a good jacket...you make it work." Lance started chuckling a bit and sat back on his bed.

"Somehow that still sounds like an insult to my fashion taste."

"No, I mean it. You look good."

Keith frowned, taking the moment to sit next to Lance.

"Uaggh," Lance let himself fall backwards onto the bed, and then covered his face with his hands. His words came out slightly muffled. "He even threw out my moisturizer."

Keith couldn't help himself. He started laughing just a little bit.

"It's not funny!" Lance jabbed Keith in the ribs. "Somewhere out in space floats a really high quality face mask."

Keith started laughing a bit harder. "Well, I'm sure something out there in the abyss of space could use a quality lotion."

"Asteroids don't need moisturizer, Keith." Despite himself Lance had started to laugh as well.

Keith let his chuckling subside slightly, before he bumped Lance's knee with his own. "Well, you don't need moisturizer either, your skin is flawless." A slight pink lit up Keith's cheeks after saying it, unsure of himself slightly.

Lance paused for a moment. He kept his hand on his face slightly muffling his voice still as he said, "I will take the compliment...but...if you ever suggest that moisturizer isn't important again, I will kick you out of the castle and into the abyss of space to go look for it."

Keith paused for a moment before cracking up. Lance joined him in laughing. Their laughs came out in huge bursts. Keith let himself fall back onto the bed as well, landing right next to Lance.

Slowly the laughter subsided. They laid next to each other staring up at the ceiling.

Keith broke the moment.

"Hey, I know it sucks that your stuff is gone, but we can see if Allura can find some extra clothes, there's gotta be something in the Castle. And you can start a new collection of weird rocks. I'll help."

"You...mister always serious, gotta always be fighting and training, are going to help me look for weird rocks?"

Keith paused for a moment. "Yeah, that's what I'm saying."

Lance let out laughter again before quieting. He moved his hand, running it through his hair before allowing it to lay casually on Keith's bicep. They made eye contact before Lance said a very genuine, "Thanks."

They stared at each other for a moment, neither breaking the moment this time.

But then the door slid open again, and Coran's voice spoke up from the hallway. "I know you're upset, Lance, but we do need to get you to the medical bay. We don't want you getting Fluffy Korpticenders from neglecting to take care of your injury properly."

Lance sat up quickly, a slight pink flush in his cheeks. Keith followed suit, running his hand through his hair a few times.

"Right!" Lance said, voice slightly higher than normal. "Let's go, Keith, I don't want to be getting Fluffy Korp-what did you call them?"

"Yep! Let's go." Keith said.

Both boys lept up and followed Coran down to the med bay. Neither of them spoke the entire way, letting Coran go into detail about different space fungi that can infect a wound.

Lance would nod on occasion. Occasionally saying "hmm" or "yeah" when it sounded appropriate. Keith looked at him, but couldn't get a read on what was going on inside his head.

When they arrived at the med bay, Lance's eyes immediately flicked to the pod that held the fake Shiro.

Seeing him made Lance frown. "How did you figure out Shiro wasn't Shiro?"

"I trusted you. I knew you wouldn't have suspicions for no reason." Keith said.

Lance looked at Keith, a bit surprised. "You just...trusted me?"

"Yeah." Keith nodded, not really sure why it was so important. "You have good instincts, and tend to notice things other people don't. You don't think about things in a perfectly straightforward way. That's why your plans work so well usually."

Lance's mouth dropped open slightly.

"You seem surprised." Keith prompted.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't realize you thought so highly of me." Lance looked away, not able to meet Keith's eyes.

"We all do."

Coran, feeling left out, butted into the conversation. "I trust you too Lance, and I trust that you know how to step into a healing pod?"

"Right, sorry Coran, I know you all have planning to do." Lance apologized.

"Don't worry, Lance." Keith added as Lance stepped into the pod. "We all want your input on the plan as well."

Lance saluted Keith as he stepped into the pod and Coran activated it.

"So how bad are his injuries actually?" Keith asked.

"Well it's good you bandaged him when you did, he lost quite a bit of blood. The injury on his side isn't too bad though. It's deep, but missed anything important. He's also got a concussion and some bruising. He's a bit malnourished too." Coran studied the rest of the screen. "Mostly he seems okay."

* * *

Lance woke up relaxed and revitalized. Then he immediately tensed when the first sight to greet him was the fake Shiro in his own pod.

He touched his side where the injury had been. It felt like it always had. No pain, no blood.

Waking up from a healing pod was a jarring experience. You fall asleep hurting and bleeding and wake up completely different.

The next face he saw was Keith's. He was working the computer, probably figuring out just how long Lance's healing would take.

"Hey." Keith said.

"Hey." Lance responded.

"We're still working on planning. Come and join us."

There was something that felt slightly off between them. Lance couldn't quite place what it was though. Just like when using a healing pod, he had disappeared from the castle with their relationship one way and reappeared for it to be different. It wasn't a bad difference either exactly, but it wasn't something Lance could figure out what had changed either.

Lance shook his head to clear it. Keith was just standing there gesturing to the door. "Great, yeah. Let's go find a way get Shiro back."

They walked in silence down to the common room. A couple times Keith opened his mouth as if to say something, but both times he closed it again.

Lance didn't try to say anything. He just let them walk in silence.

When they arrived to the common room the others were deep in conversation.

"I can definitely hack into the system, but I may only be able to do it quickly if I'm here." Pidge pointed to a location on the blueprints that were the centerpiece of the group.

"That means cutting through a lot of Galra." Hunk answered, nervous.

"Yes, but we may have to do that regardless." Allura said, patting Hunk on the shoulder.

Lance jumped into the conversation. "What's the tradeoff in time if we can't get you there, Pidge?"

"Lance!" Everyone shouted. They were excited to have him back with them. Hunk immediately made room on the couch for Lance to sit down. Keith chose a spot near Allura, leaning back onto the cushions.

They quickly filled him in on the issues, going over the blueprint and the last mission failure. He listened attentively, asking questions when needed.

"So, Pidge, the tradeoff in time? What if we couldn't get you to that particular control room?" Lance asked again.

"Well, if I got to any control room I could hack in but it would take an extra five minutes minimum. The station is segmented so that in case of emergency they can shut down and lock entire parts of the base, but it also means not all information is available to the average Galra unless you're in the central station."

"Good thing you're not the average Galra. That's a big difference, though. Where are the other control rooms?" Lance asked.

They were pointed out on the blueprint. Each one was pretty deep within the station segments, quite difficult to get to. There was a guarantee of running into a lot of Galra regardless.

"So I'd say stealth is out." Lance let out a laugh.

"Yes but if we don't do stealth we could get locked into one of the sections and not be able to get the information we need at all." Allura added.

"Hmmm...I get why this has been such a problem. What if we use distraction on the outside of the station to clear out most of the Galra while Pidge uses stealth to break in?"

"If that's the case we'll definitely need the time." Pidge said. "I'll need to focus completely on the hack, so one or two people will need to go with me as well to get rid of any Galra that spot us."

"I'll go." Keith said, volunteering.

"What are you talking about? We definitely need you in your lion." Lance said.

Keith frowned. "What are _you_ talking about? I was just borrowing Red. Now that you're back, I don't have a lion."

"I wasn't talking about Red, Keith. I was talking about Black. Besides it's probably better to have someone who specializes in long range combat, to get Galra that are farther away."

"Oh, right." Keith realized how stupid he'd been for a moment. Of course Lance was talking about Black. With everything that had been going on Keith had almost forgotten that the team needed a Black Paladin again.

"You aren't planning on leaving the team again, are you?" Lance asked.

"Well, no...I just...nevermind."

"We need you here. Even when you're not in a lion you're still important to our team. Were you planning on joining the Blade again?" Lance's words were more serious than usual.

"I...uh…" Keith's face flushed slightly.

"Well Matt could go, although he doesn't do a lot of long range." Pidge volunteered, completely ignoring the two boys and going ahead with planning.

Matt nodded. "I like that plan."

Lance nodded, attention going back to the team and off of Keith. "And I guess if we have to pick another paladin, it makes the most sense to use Red for a stealth mission since she's so fast. So I guess I'll go as well."

"Plus you are the team's sharpshooter." Keith added.

Lance glowed a little bit from the praise.

"I don't like the idea of only having three lions to fight the rest of the Galra, but we'll have to make it work." Allura said.

"Don't worry, we'll be communicating, so if anything should happen I'll make sure we can get back to our lions and form Voltron." Lance said, to assuage her fears. "It's not the same as the last mission. We're all working together this time. We won't fail."

* * *

Keith wasn't in love with the idea of flying Black again. She was a great lion, but she just didn't move as fast as he liked.

He loved being a part of the team though. It was good to be a part of this plan. They were going to find Shiro. They were going to bring he team back together.

He approached her shields and gently touched them to lower.

Nothing happened.

He pushed a little bit. There was no budging, no shudder of movement, just the shield pushing back under his hand.

Keith's heart fell. Of course the plan wouldn't work exactly.

"Lance! There's a problem!" Keith's voice rang in Lance's ear.

Lance had been doing a last minute run through of the plan with Pidge and Matt before he was going to leave for Red's hangar.

"What's happening, Keith?"

"Black's not responding."

"What?"

"Black won't lower her shields for me."

Lance swore under his breath. He said to Keith. "Hold on, I'm on my way." And then to Pidge. "Pidge, wait for a moment."

He ran to Black's hangar, panting after the run. He had a bit of sweat on his brow, already soaking into his hair.

"You didn't have to come all the way here." Keith looked at Lance with concern.

"Of course I did. We have to figure out what's happening."

Keith frowned. "It's obvious what's happening."

"What do you mean?"

"I left the team."

"Yeah, but now you're back." Lance said it matter-of-factly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Keith let out an exasperated sigh. "Maybe when I left the team it meant I could never come back."

Keith didn't like the idea, but he was already accepting leaving the team again.

Lance frowned. His voice turned softer, more caring. "No, Keith, that can't be true. You left because you thought it would be better for the team, maybe...specifically for me. But you're the best pilot we have. There's nobody better to pilot a lion."

Lance placed his hand on Keith's shoulder.

"But I wasn't a good leader, and now Black doesn't trust me anymore." Keith didn't add that he thought Black was making the right choice. He had been a terrible leader, causing nothing but problems among the team members. He looked into Lance's eyes, trying to get him to understand without words.

"No," Lance said quickly, "that's not true."

Keith shot him a look with eyebrows raised.

"It's not!" Lance yelled, but then lowered his voice. "Maybe it's true that you weren't the best leader-"

"Great pep talk." Keith interrupted sarcastically. He looked away.

"No! That's not what I..." Lance was flustered. He took a deep breath and started again. "It's not about the leader that you were, it's about the leader that you could be. You weren't focused on the team, and it made sense because there was so much else going on. That doesn't mean you're a bad leader, it just means that maybe it wasn't the right time for you."

"Well clearly now is definitely not the right time for me." Keith gestured towards Black's locked hull.

"So then maybe it is about trust like you said . It's time to gain back Black's trust by proving that you're ready."

"How can I do that. It's not like we've got a lot of spare lions lying around. Just let it go, Lance, I'm better with the Blade."

"No, you're more reckless with the Blade. More likely to kill yourself with the Blade. You're meant to be on Team Voltron, and Voltron needs you. No one in the universe pilots like you do. It's all good and fine to pilot a few shows and theatrical performances as the Red Paladin, but when it comes to a real fight I'm no match as a pilot."

"That's nonsense. You've gotten much better." Keith gave Lance a cheeky smile.

"Thanks." He said flatly before continuing. "Pilot red, Keith."

"What? But you're-"

"I'm serious. Pilot Red. You need to regain Black's trust and we already know Red will let you pilot her, so take Red."

"I can't! You need to-"

"I need to do what's best for the team. It's not a grade school competition. This is a war. We need the best people in the best places."

"But-" Keith tried to protest again, but Lance silenced him with a look.

"I'm not stepping down as a pilot for Voltron. I'm going to go with Pidge and Matt and provide backup and support, just like the plan always was. Besides I haven't piloted a lion in a long time anyway. I'm not used to it anymore. And you know that the moment Black accepts you again I'm booting you from Red's cockpit anyway."

"But what about when we find Shiro?"

"We'll deal with that when we find Shiro. Right now we need to get Voltron up and running as soon as possible. Giving up piloting a lion for a little while isn't a big tradeoff for something like that."

Keith didn't have anything more to use as protest. Lance without a lion didn't feel right to him though. Lance was a fast learner and a good teammate.

"Go! We've got a mission right now. Don't just stand around and be lazy."

"Okay! I'm going." Keith said, running down the hall. He took a quick look back at Lance.

He was frowning, a slight look of defeat on his face. Keith already knew how much piloting a lion and being part of the team meant to Lance, but seeing it on your friends' face was a different story.

Keith's stomach clenched. He wanted to run back and demand that Lance pilot Red. But he knew that Lance would never go for it. His mind was made up, and it would be shameful to have had Keith throw all the kind words and plans back into Lance's face.

This was the hardest thing for Lance to do, and he was doing it because he thought it was what the team needed. Keith wasn't going to let that sacrifice be in vain.

He'd get Lance back into a Lion one way or another. Now was the time for Keith to be a team player.

He hoped into Red's cockpit and spun the controls. Red responded as she always had, coming to life under his fingertips.

He heard the other's talking on the comms.

"Where are they?" Allura asked.

"Maybe they fell off of the zipline. I keep telling you that those things are a hazard." Hunk's voice chimed in.

"No, that's not the problem." Allura sighed into her mic. "Look, Red's coming now. Lance, what's happening?"

"It's not Lance." Keith said, making red stop just short of them.

"But, why-" Allura started.

"Sorry, everybody." Lance's voice suddenly spoke from the comms. They all watched as Yellow launched from the Castle. "There was an issue with Black. We're not gonna be able to form Voltron today."

"But why aren't you in Red?" Hunk asked.

"I thought it would be better to have Keith pilot for today. But believe me, if Keith makes even one mistake I'm taking Red back." Lance had laughter in his voice.

It helped make Keith feel a bit lighter.

"But what will we do if we need to form Voltron?" Allura asked.

"No worries. I've come up with a new plan." Lance spoke up.

* * *

 **A/N:** Dang it Coran, can't you just wait to barge into someone else's room for a bit longer?

One day late's not bad! Besides I'm not exactly sure when I posted the last chapter anyway. Hard to know when I keep going through time changes.

It helps to get writing done when I have lots of flights and time without wifi, too.

I already wrote most of the next chapter, but now I went and changed a couple things and will probably have to rewrite most of it...sigh. Either way next one should be up next Thursday/Friday if all works out.


	18. Chapter 17

The first part of the plan went off without a hitch. As soon as they arrived at the base Pidge turned on Green's cloaking. The others rushed off to begin the distraction. Red, Blue and Yellow flying in tight formation. Coran stayed behind to man the castle.

"We're approaching section two. We'll let you know when we've found a place we can safely dock." Lance's voice spoke over the comms.

With Lance, Matt, and Pidge in Green there was a good chance they would succeed. Even so, Keith found himself listening intently to every word, a bad feeling clenching in his gut.

Allura's voice spoke next. "We're keeping low for the time being, but we're in formation to reveal ourselves and start the distraction at any moment."

"Good. Watch each other's backs. If it gets too intense leave immediately, don't worry about us." Lance's words rang ominously in Keith's ears. "I'll make sure we find a way out."

Keith allowed himself to settle inside Red. He took some breaths to still himself and focus on the task ahead. After this they might find out where Shiro is. They might bring the whole team back together again. Besides, it was Lance, he would make sure everyone came out safely.

Keith allowed that to become his mantra. It calmed his nerves. Beside him, Allura and Hunk were thinking similar things to calm theirs.

"We're docked." Pidge's voice said. "We'll have to be quiet once we get inside, or we'll never make it to the control room we need."

"Why are you looking at me when you say that?" Lance said, pretending to be offended.

Keith let out a chuckle. Through the comms he could hear the other's do the same. Leave it to Lance to make them all laugh right before a battle. It helped him to relax a bit. They could do this!

"In all seriousness, Pidge is right. We'll have to stay quiet on the comms. If anything happens we'll speak up, but otherwise…" Lance trailed off.

"Understood." Keith was the first to confirm. "Make sure you watch each other's backs too."

The team fell into silence. Pidge's team quietly breaking their way into the station. Allura's waiting with baited breath for the word that they were in.

"We're in." Pidge's voice barely breathed.

"You have ten minutes more or less. Make it as fast as possible." Allura replied. "Alright everyone, let's fly."

Keith punched the controls. He allowed himself to speed past Blue and Yellow and be the first to be spotted by the Galra.

Almost immediately lasers rang out. Keith dodged them easily. It would take more than a few shots to bring them down.

He fired several back at the Galra ships. From behind him, Hunk's canon blasted and shot one of them down. Allura sped off into another direction, leading a couple of the Galra ships away. Keith sent another few blasts at the remaining ships, moving out of the way for Hunk's larger canon fire every few seconds.

Keith knew that a larger wave of ships would come soon. He took a deep breath to help his concentration.

Inside the base Pidge led Matt and Lance through a maze of hallways.

The Galra were running around on high alert, busy preparing ships and battle strategies. Lance and Matt had their weapons ready, every once in a while shooting a Galra down, but mostly trying to stay off the radar. Pidge busied themself with the blueprint of the base, focusing on getting them all to the main computer as quickly as possible.

Lance motioned for Matt to check around one side of the next corner, while he checked around the other. They did a quick peak with weapons at the ready before nodding at Pidge who motioned which direction they were supposed to continue. They stopped at the next corner to do the same. And then the next.

The checking slowed them down, but it was faster than facing Galra unnecessarily. It was also safer. Lance didn't want any mistakes to happen. It was his plan after all. He was responsible for bringing everyone home safely. He took some shots at a Galra that had appeared around the next corner before they could alert anyone. Pidge clapped him on the back as a reward.

After stopping and starting and a lot of darting around corners covertly they reached the door to the main computer. Only a few Galra had been in the way and both Lance and Matt had done quick work of them. They'd taken up about three minutes of their precious time just to get to the door. Now the hard work could start.

Pidge pried off the door console and pulled out some of the wires, and then a laptop from their own bag. They carefully attached some of the wires to the laptop before hurriedly typing something into the code that displayed on the monitor.

Lance whispered on the comms. "Made it to the main computer room. Pidge is working on getting us in."

"Good." Keith's voice spoke. "Things are going well out here. Is everyone keeping up?"

"I'm doing fine." Allura confirmed.

Keith could see the blue lion expertly darting about a group of Galra before quickly turning around to freeze some of their engines.

"I could use a little backup." Hunk's voice didn't sound quite panicked yet, but it still came out squeaky.

"Keith?" Lance whispered.

Keith smiled at the voice. "I'll try to fend off some of the Galra on my tail and come help you out!"

Lance nodded to himself. As long as things kept going well they shouldn't have a problem making it back within the time limit.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed Lance's mind the doors slid in front of him slid open.

"Good work Pidge." Lance whispered as he went to sneak around the corner of the door.

"Wait! There still might be a-" Pidge's loud whisper was abruptly cut off by a sounding alarm, "motion activated alarm system…"

"What was that?!" Hunk's and Keith's voices rang out at the same time.

"It's uh...not a big deal…" Lance said, no longer bothering to whisper, "I may have...uh...tripped an alarm. But there's three of us so we should be okay, just focus on distracting as many Galra as possible out there."

Keith gritted his teeth... _Lance…_ All he could do was focus on the job he'd been given and hope Lance could come up with a good plan to get everyone back out safe. He hated not being able to do more.

"Pidge get that intel! Fast! No point being stealthy anymore!" Lance yelled.

"I can't just make scans run faster just because you tripped an alarm. Technology doesn't work like that!" Pidge yelled back as they ran towards the center console.

"Well I need you to find a way! You're smart, Matt can help you."

Pidge shook their head before getting to work. Matt ran over to them and started helping pull out wires and connect things. The room became grunts of "and this goes there," "add the wire to that," "I need," "yes, that," "no, there," as they worked together almost seamlessly.

Lance positioned himself at an angle so he could see anyone coming from the hallway. The sound of boot-steps came closer. Lance counted in his head before firing out a shot. It hit his target perfectly. More sounds of boots. More shots timed well.

Louder footsteps approached, a larger group. Lance took a breath before stepping closer to the hallway.

Szhoom, szhoom the blaster fired. Two Galra went down right away. Lance fired several more times shooting down a third and fourth, but missing the fifth.

The Galra he had missed fired back at him. Lance rolled to dodge, before resetting. He raised his weapon to shoot the offending Galra, but in the time it took him to dodge two more had appeared. He shot quickly, managing to take down another one of them, but they were quickly replaced by yet another Galra rounding the corner.

This time he had to dodge several blasts. He ducked and rolled again, one blast just whizzing past his ear.

"Hey, watch it!" Pidge yelled. One of the blasts hit a wire they were working with and fried it.

"Sorry, Pidge, but I'm going to need to borrow your brother!" Lance charged at the oncoming Galra shooting several more before whacking one on the head with his blaster. He stepped in front of it, switching his bayard to a longsword and spinning to slice it through and three of the nearest Galra at the same time.

"I've got your back, Lance!" Matt yelled as he fired a few shots into the barrage. Lance's attack had given him time to run over and aim his own blaster.

"Pidge! How much time do you need?!" Lance yelled, slicing through another Galra.

"I've got my laptop connected to the main interface, but there's a lot of data to sort through. The folders are organized in a system I'm not familiar with and I'll have to write some code to help it go faster." Pidge yelled.

"Pidge, english!?"

"It's going to take longer than I thought. I need at least five minutes!"

"You have two!" Lance yelled. He heard Pidge grumble behind him, something about "not respecting science" before they got back to work, fingers racing across the keys of their laptop.

A Galra behind Lance yelled as it was hit by Matt's weapon. Lance barrelled into the Galra in front of him. It toppling into an oncoming one. Lance slashed at both of them. Blood splattered his open helmet and he smelled metal.

The assault continued.

Lance took a step forward. He stabbed into a Galra. He took another step. Sliced through a blaster. Another step. The hilt of his sword smashed in a helmet. Another. A slash through three Galra on his right. Step. Crashing his shoulder into the Galra on his left. Step. Swinging around to hack through a Galra arm. Step.

The sounds of blasts rang through the air. Many were Matt's, more still were Galra.

Lance gritted his teeth, wondering how much longer they could hold out. He needed an idea, a friend, _something._

Lance's voice rang out over the intercom, breathing heavy from fighting. "There are too many guards for us to take by ourselves. We need some backup!"

That was the last thing Keith needed to hear. It distracted him enough to misfire on one of the ships he was helping Hunk with. The blast clipped one of the Galra ships' wings, sending it spinning directly into the yellow lion.

Hunk yelled.

"Sorry!" Keith yelled. "Lance! What can we do?"

 _Think._ Lance commanded his brain. _There's a way out of this. THINK!_

A Galra hit Lance in the back with his blaster, knocking his breath out. Lance turned to slash.

 _Wait!_

"Okay!" Lance knew there was no way that anyone sent inside would get to them in time. But maybe there was another way. "Pidge! Can you manually shut the emergency airlocks?"

"What good would that do? They'd just open them again. I thought you wanted me to find the intel. I thought I only had two minutes. Now you want me to-"

"Pidge can you do it or not?!"

"'Course I can do it. What a stupid question." Pidge grumbled.

"Time?" Lance asked.

"10 seconds."

"Great! Hunk! In about 10 seconds I need you to use your canon and slice through the third hub, right next to where we're fighting. Don't hit the fourth hub or this won't work! You need to have perfect aim!"

"But what if-" Hunk started to ask.

"You can do this! You're the only one with a powerful enough canon to slice a hole through the base. I trust you completely!"

Hunk took a second before answering. Steeling himself for the task at hand. "Rodger! Just tell me when!"

This was a delicate moment. Lance took a breath to steel himself. "Okay, Matt, Pidge it's about to get bumpy, I need you to hold onto something in five, four, three, two.." Lance sliced through the arm of the alien he was fighting. It backed up just enough to reveal a pipe that looked secure sticking out of the wall. Lance grabbed hold, clutching on for dear life. _This better work,_ he thought. "One! Pidge! Hunk!"

The door to the room they were all in slammed shut. Most of the Galra were stuck on the other side, away from the trio. One Galra got trapped between the doors, keeping them a couple inches open. Another couple ended up inside with them all.

A blast went through the gap, scrapping Lance on the shoulder. He let go of the pipe he was holding in his surprise.

 _Boom._ The airship shuddered with the blast from the yellow lion as a huge gash was hacked in the metal.

Lance's hurt shoulder slammed into the wall. He grasped out with his other hand, just managing to clasp onto it before the entire place shuddered again.

The galra inside were whipped around, banging into the ceiling and walls. One grabbed at Matt and he kicked out at it, forcing it back.

Suddenly all of the air in the room began to whizz past their ears and out of the gap the Galra wedged between the doors was causing. Lance let go of the pipe he was holding and pushed of the walls hard. He slammed his boot right into its face. It was pushed out a few inches.

Lance tried again. This time hacking through the Galra's middle. The doors banged shut the rest of the way. A final tremble of the base made them all slam into the ground.

Matt recovered first. Sending blasts at the remaining two Galra, downing them.

Lance took a moment on the floor to just lie there and breathe. Hunk had hit the base perfectly, in just the right spot.

"Nicely done Hunk!" Lance croaked.

Hunk and Keith watched from their lions as several Galra were whipped into space.

"Is everyone okay?" Allura sounded almost panicked.

"I'm alright." Lance said.

Pidge and Matt yelled their affirmatives over the intercom.

"Although now we have no way back to Green…" Pidge mumbled.

"We'll figure something out. How much more time do you need?"

"Forty-five more seconds should do it. I've found the file, I just need to download."

"O-kay," Lance said, stretching the word out to give himself more time to think. "Allura, can you start clearing a path between where we are and where Green is?"

"Yes, but Lance I don't know how that'll-"

"We're gonna have to space walk." Lance interrupted the thought.

"Lance?!" Keith yelled through the comm.

"It's the only way I can think of. If it makes you feel better, you're going to be the one to take us from here to Green." Lance said it in a cutesy voice like he was talking to a kid.

"That doesn't make me feel better at all."

"Coran! Get the castle ready for a jump. We're gonna have to do a quick exit!"

"Understood!" Coran yelled. "You know this reminds me of a time on planet Hobrov-"

"Great! Keep thinking of that memory of planet Hob-whatever-and tell us all about it when we get back." Lance said, cutting him off before he could get too far into his story.

"Right-o!"

"Keith, keep helping Hunk for now, but look for an entrance to get to us."

"I still don't think-" Keith started to say.

"Please, Keith!" Lance paused, "Just trust me."

The way Lance said it broke Keith's heart for some reason. "I do." He whispered, more to himself than to anyone in particular.

Keith moved Red out of the way of a Galra ship coming at him full speed. He quickly spun around and fired back. He turned back toward the base even faster. Keith didn't want to let his eyes wander off for even a moment. Any opening would have to be taken immediately. He didn't want to let Lance-the team down.

"Pidge?" Lance said.

"10 more seconds!"

Lance calculated in his head the angle they'd need to jump. It was odd. To Lance it felt like the fight was slowing down, like he could see everything calmly and clearly. It was almost like he was seeing through seven pairs of eyes.

Lance barely breathed in anticipation. "Keith, how close are you to getting an opening?"

"I need another moment!"

"Hunk! Help him however you can!"

"Got it!" Hunk began firing wildly at the oncoming Galra. They scattered, and Keith took that moment to dive for the base.

"I'm coming in fast!"

"Pidge!" Lance yelled.

"I need another five seconds!" Pidge yelled back, panicked.

"Keith!"

Keith dove back up, trying to mislead the Galra that were on his tail. "I'll make it work!" Allura shot out some ice to help Keith get away safely. "Thanks!"

Five seconds had never gone so slowly for Lance. He closed his helmet, sealing in his air supply. His shoulder twinged in pain. He moved it gently, trying to figure out how bad it was. It felt sore, but not too bad.

He yelled at Matt and Pidge. "Get ready, we don't have a lot of time!"

"The data's downloaded, it's time to get out of here." Pidge was throwing the computer back in their bag. Lance had never seen them so ruthless with technology before.

Keith dove toward the base once more. "Right outside!"

"Grab hold!" Matt, Pidge, and Lance clutched themselves together, before Lance gave a firm whack to the airlock button.

Being sucked through a hole into space wasn't a comfortable experience. One moment, solid ground was beneath your feet, the next moment felt like you were riding down a waterslide while someone pulled and stretched you from both ends.

But then they were floating calmly in space...well as calmly as they could be while being hurtled through blackness.

"I'm here!" Keith yelled, as though that would give them a direction to shoot for. He saw the three bodies floating past him. He primed Red to grab them, but then a blast sent him off path. "Quiznak!"

"That's not what I need to hear right now, Keith! Get to us and then head for Green!" Lance yelled.

Lance's suit definitely had a hole in the shoulder. With one of his arms he was clutching tightly to Pidge, he managed to clap the other one over his shoulder, but it was precarious. His suit blinked alerting him to the low oxygen. Another second and he was completely out.

He hoped Matt and Pidge were holding on tightly.

Keith dove around the Galra ship, but it chased him relentlessly. He fired at it. It matched him. "Quiznak!" Red was getting further and further off course with each moment. "Lance! I-"

"Keith! We need you to get here as fast as you can...any means necessary!"

What scared Keith was that it wasn't Lance who yelled. It was Matt. The further radio silence from his friend wasn't a good indication either.

"Lance!" Keith yelled.

He saw red. It wasn't just the color of his lion anymore, it was everywhere. Keith dove again, and when the Galra ship followed once more he let out a cry. "Graaeeggghhh!" He pressed the controls forward, begging Red to go faster, even faster in his mind.

Red's claws outstretched. She slammed directly into the Galra ship, completely mauling it as she did so. They blasted past, heading as fast as a rocket to where Keith knew Lance and the other paladins were floating.

He expected to see them near the hatch they had escaped from, but they weren't there any longer. Keith's eyes went wide, his nostrils flared as he searched through the skies.

"Where?" His eyes darted around, but then he saw them. Three bodies clutching tightly together. "Red!" He yelled it aloud, but she was already turning and darting towards the paladins.

Red's mouth outstretched and she pulled them in.

"Lance! Lance are you okay?!" Keith yelled, unable to turn around and look, too busy fending off Galra.

He heard coughing, and then an arm thumped on his shoulder.

"Thanks, buddy." Lance sounded dazed.

"How are you?" Keith asked, trying not to laugh in relief.

"Mm'good. Had a hole in my suit or something. Fortunately Matt noticed what was happening." Lance shot some finger guns at Matt.

"I think you're a little disoriented from the oxygen deprivation. Try to keep it together." Matt said in response.

"Nah, I'm okay." Lance leaned down, and pressed his cheek to Keith's.

Keith turned redder than his lion and jumped out of his seat, completely letting go of the controls for a moment. "Lance!"

"Keith?..." Lance looked puzzled standing up, and then he shook his head and it all seemed to come back to him. "Keith! What are you doing, we need to get to Green!"

"What am _I_ doing?" Keith sat back down, grabbing the controls again, still tomato red. He could hear Pidge and Matt laughing in the background.

Lance's face matched Keith's for a moment, as they both stared pointedly ahead.

"Uh…" Lance said, "uh..Pidge! You're gonna have to do another space walk. We'll get you much closer than this last one though."

"You want me to spacewalk from one lion to another while being attacked by a bunch of Galra ships? Like the last time went so well...Lance!" Pidge yelled.

"You can do this! Green will respond to you. Keep the cloaking on and then as soon as you get inside gun it straight for the Castle!"

"You say this like it'll be easy!"

"For you?" Lance said. "Of course it will be!"

"Lance!" Pidge paused unsure what to say, before throwing their hands up and simply yelling, "QUIZNAK!"

Lance moved besides Pidge, clapping a hand on their shoulder this time. He said quietly. "The reason I'm so hard on you is because I know you can do it."

Pidge was silent.

"Besides...if you miss I'll come right after you and pass out in space again and then you'll have to deal with me being loopy in _your_ lion."

Pidge scrunched their nose up for a moment before saying. "Fine."

"See! I knew that threat would work!" Lance laughed.

Matt leaned down next to his sibling. "You got this. Be careful."

They hugged while Keith circled the base.

"Uh...everyone? How am I supposed to find an invisible ship?" Keith grunted, hoping any of them had an answer for him.

Lance opened his mouth, before promptly shutting it again, suddenly unsure.

"Oh…" Pidge said, "It's right next to the door marked 4,783 on the side with the Prumoria adapter."

Lance and Matt looked at Pidge with their mouths dropped open.

"What? Weren't either of you paying attention?" Pidge asked.

They stood motionless.

Pidge grumbled under their breath. "What would you all do without me?"

"Got it!" Keith steered Red toward the correct door. Avoiding a tail from more Galra.

"It's here Keith!" Pidge pointed out the exact spot.

"Alright Pidge, get prepared! Don't miss!" Lance said.

Pidge shot him a glare. Lance just smiled.

A look of concentration came over Pidge's face as they were sent back into the abyss of space.

They watched for a moment as Pidge floated towards the door, before promptly disappearing. Keith took it as a good sign, and allowed Red to turn quickly and shoot in a different direction away from oncoming Galra.

"Pidge, fly green towards the castle! Make sure you stay in front of Red since we can't see you!" Lance's voice sounded a bit nervous over the comms.

He and Matt both relaxed as soon as Pidge's voice spoke up once more. "I'm in. Headed toward Coran."

"Allura make a wall of ice behind red to prevent the galra from following!" Lance hoped it would be enough. He bit his lip. They only had a few more seconds left of this fight.

"Will do!"

"Alright Coran, we're gonna need that wormhole setup! Everyone fly toward the castle!" Lance yelled into the comms.

"It'll only be open for about five seconds! Everyone hurry!" Coran yelled back.

A collective, "Got it!" rang out over the comms.

One. The castle floated through the white portal.

Two. Allura turned back from the ice wall to shoot toward the wormhole.

Three. Hunk and Allura both zoomed through the light one after another.

Four. Lance hoped that Pidge had made it through.

Five.

"C'mon!" Lance and Keith yelled at the same time.

Red touched the light.

And all of a sudden they were through.

* * *

"Alright!" Hunk raised his arms to Lance in a double high-five. "I can't believe we did it!"

"You were awesome, buddy. When you blasted your cannon, like psshhhhh bshshhh." Lance made a motion in the air like a lightsaber.

"We did wonderfully. Hopefully this intel will tell us where Shiro is." Allura chimed in.

"Yeah!" Lance lost his smile, but only slightly. He hoped no one noticed. "I know that since we have three mega geniuses on this ship, you'll be able to crack it." He looped his arms over Pidge's and Matt's shoulders.

Coran twirled his mustache proudly. "Awe, no need to call me a mega genius, we all do our part."

"Yep, of course Coran." Lance winked at Hunk so that he knew Lance had been talking about him. He couldn't take the happiness away from Coran though, not after they'd all done so well.

"That plan was...kind of genius." Keith, for once, seemed happy.

"Kind of? It was awesome!" Lance glowered at Keith.

"Okay, it was awesome. But you did almost die from a hole in your suit."

"All part of the fun."

Pidge snorted, but didn't comment.

Lance's smile got brighter. Something about that smile made Keith's knees feel weak. They all stood around happily for a moment.

It felt only right that it should be Lance to break it. "So I guess next step is to find Shiro so that you all can form Voltron again."

Keith picked up on something wrong about Lance's smile.

Allura's smile faltered slightly, she had noticed too. "Well...actually...while I do agree that we need to track down Shiro, I don't agree that we will have to wait to find him to form Voltron again."

"What, do you think Keith can reestablish his bond with Black after that fight?" Lance asked, slightly hopefully.

"No, that's not what I mean." Allura looked at Keith, opened her eyes wider, signaling to him.

Keith looked at her questioningly. Then it hit him.

"Lance...I'm not going to reestablish that bond with Black," Keith said it carefully, "Red's definitely my lion. If anything, today proved that."

"So...what? Do you think Matt can lead or something...I know he's Shiro's right hand man, but do you really think Black will let him lead?" Lance looked uncomfortable.

Keith was studying him. Lance definitely wasn't stupid enough to think that Allura had been talking about Matt. It was obvious that something else was going through his head.

Allura frowned too, her thoughts along the same line. "Lance... _you_ should be the black paladin." She said it quietly, unsure of how Lance would react. He was surprisingly quiet.

Keith spoke up first. "I agree, I think you were a really great leader today."

Hunk chimed in. "I've always thought you would make a great leader, Lance. That's why I wanted you as my pilot back at the Garrison."

Pidge snorted. Everyone looked at them. "Okay, look, Lance, even I agree with that. You've actually proven yourself." They quickly added. "Don't get used to it though." And stuck out their tongue.

"I can't disagree with Pidge." Matt shrugged his shoulders, smiling at his younger sibling.

"So it's decided then," Coran clapped his hands together, "Lance will be the leader!"

Lance was still quiet. The others stood around awkwardly waiting for him to speak.

He opened his mouth. "But...I already _tried._ "

Allura tilted her head, confused by his reaction. "And you'll try again. I think Black will be more receptive towards you this time."

"Just…" Lance looked around at all his friends.

Six pairs of eyes stared back.

"Just...can you please give me a moment." Lance frowned, looking down at the table.

The others left, looking back at him with concern. Finally he heard the door close. Thinking he was alone he let out a sigh and stamped his foot on the ground. How was he supposed to get Black to listen to him? She hadn't even been slightly responsive the last time.

But now they all expected it to work. He'd try, and he'd let them down again. Wasn't it just easier if he wasn't a paladin at all? Wouldn't that just be easier for everyone?

"Lance?" A soft voice by the door startled him. Lance looked up to see that Keith hadn't left the room.

"Oh...uh…?" Lance wasn't sure what to say.

"What's going on?"

"I..just…" Lance paused, sighed, uncomfortable, afraid to admit to Keith his insecurities. "What if Black still doesn't think I'm deserving?"

"She will." It was a statement of fact for Keith, he knew that she would accept him this time.

"But...how can you say that? There's just so many people depending on me right now, and I just got lucky that the plan worked."

"That wasn't luck, Lance, that was leadership. There were so many times when things changed and the plan wasn't going to work and _you_ found a way, you figured out some other solution. Do you honestly think that I or even Shiro could have figured out how to get out of that situation without forming Voltron? You didn't even need to, and that's because you're a natural leader."

"How can I be?" Lance looked down, squeezing his eyes shut as hard as he could to prevent tears from forming. "Shiro didn't even once consider me as his next in command. And the black lion chose you for that role, and I agreed with her choice. You should be the one trying again, not me. I've messed up so many times. I don't deserve this."

"Stop it! Stop criticizing yourself like this." Keith was letting his anger get the better of him. He closed the gap between them, wanting to shake Lance out of his self-doubt but then couldn't bring himself to touch him once he was closer. "Back then you weren't chosen by the black lion because none of us were ready for you to be the leader. None of us trusted you to lead or believed in you. You won our trust one by one. What I saw today was total confidence out of every single paladin. _You_ did that. _You_ made us trust you."

Lance was silent. Keith wasn't sure if his words were getting through, he needed Lance to listen.

"Lance, you've got this. We've all grown so much since this started, but you've grown the most. Just from a few months ago you're more clearer-headed and a better pilot. Besides…" Keith steeled his voice for a joke, hoping it would break Lance from his look of pain. "You don't flirt so much with the ladies anymore, so I know you won't accidentally get Voltron stolen like you did that one time…" Keith reached up and flicked Lance on the forehead.

"Hey!" Lance looked up, just like Keith had hoped he would. He didn't look so sad anymore.

Before Keith could lower his hand, Lance caught it in his own. Keith held his breath, unsure of why. _Maybe he's just worried about you flicking him again._

Lance didn't move, didn't say anything. Keith couldn't hold his eye contact. It was too piercing for the intimate moment.

He continued, nervous, now that Lance was paying attention. Keith's voice came out quieter than he expected. "I've already accepted you as my leader, and I'm ready for you to accept me as your right hand man." He met Lance's eyes once more, this time ready for that piercing look. "Lance, we all trust you...so please trust us when we say this is your role."

Keith's hand was warm in Lance's.

There was something deeply comforting about the moment. Lance slowly sighed out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His chest felt lighter. For a moment he wondered if Hunk had accidentally turned down the gravity. But he also felt calmer somehow.

"Okay, I'll try." Lance didn't stop gazing into Keith's eyes.

Keith smiled briefly, glad his words had worked. His gaze traveled downward from Lance's eyes, to just settle on his mouth.

They stood their for a moment, neither wanting to move and break their connection or change the mood.

Keith couldn't bring himself to step in closer. He hesitated in getting intimate with Lance, as scared of rejection as Lance had been just a few moments before. He knew too that taking Lance to speak to the black lion was more important than anything else at the moment. "Are you ready?"

Keith regretted saying it immediately as Lance dropped his hand and nodded. They walked out of the room in silence. Lance was in front, with Keith following him just behind.

The others were waiting on the outside of the door.

* * *

 **A/N:** Ahhh! I'm floating. There's been so much good Voltron news and I just am so excited about Shiro and the new season coming out!

Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MA BOI! LANCE! An extra long chapter just for you!

And thank you so much to my readers for your amazing comments! I read all of them and I appreciate them more than you can imagine. It also reminds me that I need to get my butt working on this fanfiction.

Obviously this chapter is quite late. The funny thing is I have the absolute best excuse for not finishing it on time (a better excuse than any of my other late chapters), and yet it's such a crazy story no one would believe me even if I told it to you. Long story short though I went through a traumatic incident and since then haven't been able to focus very well. I'm trying really hard though, and I'm still planning on finishing this!

Working on this story did seem to help me a bit with my concentration, so hopefully it will continue to get better until I feel back to my old self. Plus finishing a chapter always makes me feel really good and accomplished.

I love all of you readers! You make my days brighter!


	19. Chapter 18

They all walked with Lance silently down to the hangar. It was strange. Only on rare occasions was the castle that silent. Normally Lance would be making jokes, or if not him breaking up the silence, it would be Pidge teasing him or Coran prattling on about some alien species.

But they were all silent too. Everyone was aware of what a fragile moment this was. Lance had taken his time in agreeing to try black, and they didn't want to risk scaring him off like he was one of the mice riding on Allura's shoulder.

So instead no one spoke, but they did fall into step around him.

The hangar loomed in front of Lance as they got closer. He could see Black's barrier shining in the darkness. As though Black knew what they were planning, she dropped the barrier the moment they stepped over the threshold.

Lance took a deep breath. He glanced back at his teammates. Allura smiled at him encouragingly, nodding. Hunk nodded once when Lance met his eyes. He had a look of sober determination. Coran shot Lance a pair of finger guns. Lance wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Clearly Coran had been paying a bit too much attention to human hand signals.

He looked over at Matt, who was standing behind Pidge, hands on their shoulders. Matt nodded once as well, smiling. Lance looked down to meet Pidge's gaze. Their eyebrows raised when their eyes met. A slight smile played across Pidge's face as they slowly nodded.

A hand gripped Lance's shoulder. Lance looked over to Keith, whose eyes were closed. He looked almost as though he were in prayer. Keith took a deep breath before looking into his eyes. The determination Keith wanted to bestow on Lance was written on his face. He nodded once as well, holding his hand there.

Lance had already tried Black once, but this time it felt so much more important. Last time, he had been hopeful, but no one had really believed he would become Black's paladin. He didn't even think he had believed it himself. Even though it had hurt that Black hadn't felt he was leader material, he had come to accept his role while sitting in the cockpit. Lance had refused to let the hurt and sadness show on his face. He had sat in the cockpit until he felt determined to show Shiro or whoever the next Black Paladin was that he would be a strong comrade they could rely on for anything.

When he had stepped out, no one seemed disappointed or surprised that Black hadn't chosen him. No one's faces gave a hint of disappointment.

But this time?

This time if Black didn't accept him he'd have to face a group of paladins who had believed in him. His failure would mean more. Lance wasn't sure how he could even face the group if Black found him inadequate again.

Lance stepped forward, Keith's hand dropping silently from his shoulder.

Lance had been alone in space for weeks. He hadn't had any comrades to rely on then, and yet he had never felt more alone than in this moment. Black was imposing in front of him. She didn't seem to react to his presence at all.

 _Please._ He thought as he took a step inside. _Please._

He walked up to the chair and sat down, taking a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. As he sat there he bounced one of his legs up and down, nervously waiting.

No lights lit up. No lion roar met his ears. Lance's heart began to sink.

"Please..." He said it aloud this time. Whispered it into the darkness. "Please...Black, I-I don't want to let them down."

Still nothing happened. Lance squeezed his eyes shut trying not to let the tears he felt welling fall. He felt pain in his chest. He was not surprised by Black's lack of reaction. A few good ideas didn't make a good leader. Lance allowed his head to fall into one of his hands, gritting his teeth against the dam of tears.

A leader needed to be someone who cared about the wellbeing of the team and knew when to rely on and help them while being smart, strong, and trusting themself and their instincts.

"And are you not?"

The unfamiliar voice made Lance's head snap up. He looked around but saw no one in the darkness.

The voice started again. A slow quiet rumbling sound. "I'll ask you again. Are you not smart and strong?"

"I-uh…" Lance said, blinking in the darkness. He couldn't place where the voice was coming from, then he realized.

An image flooded his mind. Lance was in the castle with Coran, as the door opened Rover flew in. Lance acknowledged the robot before realizing something was wrong. He managed to jump in front of Coran before the explosion took place.

A new image flashed in his mind over the first one. He saw himself in Blue, fighting the underwater garden beast. He watched as it crashed into boulders destroying them, before it charged at him. With Lance, blue came alive and shot a supersonic wave towards the beast, destroying it under falling boulders.

"I-" Lance said, suddenly unsure.

"Do you not trust your own instincts?"

He watched as Slav was grabbed by the enemy on their way into space. He watched himself focus, tell Shiro he could do this, and then take aim and fire, successfully freeing Slav and allowing them all to escape. "Nice Lance, that's why we bring our sharpshooter!" Shiro said.

"Do you not care about the wellbeing of the team?"

This time he was out cold on the floor of the castle, as Sendak raised Pidge in threat. He watched as he woke up, taking in the scene within a moment. He took aim and shot, before his brain could shut down again. He saved his friend. It was a split second to do and took all his energy.

"Do you not know when to rely on and help them?"

He watched as he followed Keith, chasing him down in Red. Keith sped towards Lotor's ship, leaving behind the rest of the team. Lance yelled, "Keith! Don't do this!"

He watched another scene on planet Naxzela. Dark energy had forced Voltron down. Lance realized that Allura had a connection to the magic and sent her into action. Allura's shaky, "I don't know I haven't been trained." was met with Lance's confidence in her. "There's a reason the blue lion chose you."

"I...guess I do…"

"Then why won't you accept my choice of leader?"

" _Your_ choice?" Lance asked, unsure.

The black lion roared inside his head. Lance was offered one last image, this one not a memory. The four other lions landed together on a planet. Behind them was Black, large and intimidating, being piloted by Lance. As the lion touched down they all began to roar together.

"Accept and be my paladin." The voice said, before going quiet.

Lance looked around the cockpit once more, taking a deep breath as he did so. He thought about the team, and all the different roles he had played. He had been a stable leg for Shiro to stand and rely on. He had been Keith's right hand man, a voice of reason or a dependable fighter whichever was necessary. He had even been the clones right hand, pushing forward himself or helping the others gain new skills and confidence when needed.

Maybe it was all leading up to this.

"I accept." Lance said quietly, taking another deep breath.

The controls under his hands came alive. The screen turned on and showed him the paladins on the ground, and their looks of confidence and pride. Black keeled back on her hind legs and roared. The other lions joined her.

Lance closed his eyes again. Proud of himself, he smiled.

* * *

"Now we've got to come up with a plan. What have we got for rescuing Shiro?" Lance still wasn't used to standing at the head of the table. He definitely wasn't used to the other's looking at him with expectation in their eyes.

Pidge started recounting the details from the intel they'd collected. "From what we gathered we know that Shiro is being held in a prison ship in the Etryria quadrant of the Iopra gallaxy." They pulled up the map of the star system. "It's not a very large prison ship, and we definitely would have overlooked it."

"We've got to move fast in case the Galra realize what intel we stole from their base." Keith added.

"Exactly." Lance agreed. "They could move the ship at any moment or move Shiro to a different prison. Do we have a trace on the ship in case they move it?"

"Matt and Hunk helped me set one up earlier." Pidge replied.

"What about access to a blueprint of the ship?" Allura asked.

"Unfortunately not. We'll have to go in blind." Matt added. "But we do have a rough idea of what it probably looks like based on other ships of the same design."

Pidge pulled up a blueprint of a ship.

"And we know what other ships are around it...right?" Hunk asked.

"Yes, that we do know." Pidge said.

"I don't think it's worth doing this mission stealth, they likely already know we're coming, so there's probably no point it would likely just waste time." Lance looked around. The others nodded. "Allura, how soon can you have the castle ready to wormhole?"

"Iopra isn't very far, so it won't take much power. I could have a jump ready within a few moments."

"Are we already to fight again this soon? We just got out of one fight." Lance asked.

"We can do this." Keith said, pressing a hand on Lance's shoulder.

Just as Lance was about to dismiss everyone an incoming call on the monitor interrupted them. "The Blade?"

Allura answered the call automatically. "Kolivan?"

His face showed up on the monitor, sweaty and out of breath. "Voltron, you're needed. Lotor has-" an explosion cut Kolivan off mid sentence. He yelled orders out to someone before continuing. "He's attacking our main rebel base. I don't know how he found it, but we need your help."

"What!?" Keith and Pidge yelled together.

"He's got that giant robot lion. I've never seen anything like it. It took out thirty of our ships in one blow. We have more rebels coming to help defend but they won't be able to get here in time." Lance had never seen Kolivan look panicked before. The signal cut out, before he could say much more.

"Allura how quickly can we wormhole to them?" Lance asked.

"It will be the same, only a few moments...but Lance…" Allura trailed off.

"What is it?"

"If we go to rescue Kolivan and the rebels-"

"We won't get to Shiro in time." Keith cut Allura off and finished her sentence. The grimace on his face made him look like he was physically in pain. He felt like he had been punched in the gut.

"This timing is too perfect. Lotor's doing it so that the Galra can move Shiro." Pidge slammed their fist on the table. "He must be."

"So the option is either Shiro or our allies?" Lance asked to no one in particular. "How can we decide that?" Lance looked at Keith. "Keith what do you think?"

Keith met Lance's eyes. "I...I can't make that decision. You're the leader now, Lance."

The words sent a pang through Lance's body. He didn't want to be leader if it meant making decisions like this. Lance studied Keith. He looked doubled over slightly, still in pain. "I don't need you make the final decision, but I want your opinion. All of yours." He said addressing the room.

"Lance…" Keith said quietly.

Pidge answered first. "As much as I hate to say it, we can't win this war if we lose our allies now. Losing Shiro would be terrible, and we probably won't get another chance to rescue him. But…"

"Losing the war would be worse." Hunk finished Pidge's thoughts quietly, nodding solemnly. Matt nodded behind him.

Allura spoke, carefully selecting each word. "My father would have said that a single life is not equal to the lives of many, but that it is the love we share with our own family that determines the weight of our soul. Shiro may just be one life, but he is our family and we should not just let him go."

Coran placed a hand on her shoulder as she looked at the floor, a few tears began to well in her eyes.

They stood around for a moment in silence all looking at the ground except Lance. He was looking at Keith.

"Keith?" He said quietly.

"I...I know that we should rescue Kolivan and the rebels...but...Shiro...he's my…" Keith trailed off before he could finish saying 'brother.'

Lance watched Keith for a moment. His eyes were so intent, darker than usual a they stared at the ground. A flash of some emotion twisted in Lance's stomach. The thoughts came before he could force them down.

It was obvious.

Keith loved Shiro.

Keith loved him in a way that Keith didn't love Lance.

The thought struck Lance, hurting him. _Jealousy._ That's what it was.

Lance turned away from the group before any of them could look up and see the powerful emotions rip through his face. He tried to calm himself. Took a few quiet breaths, making each one deeper than the last.

Finally he spoke. "Pidge, Hunk, and Keith get to your lions. Allura, I'm gonna need you to make three wormholes in pretty quick succession. Do you think that you can do that?"

"I...yes, I believe so, although I haven't tried that before."

"Do you think you can do that while also fighting Lotor?"

"I'm not sure what you mean." Allura said, confused.

"I'm going to go after Shiro, while you, Hunk, and Pidge go help Kolivan. But I'll need a couple wormholes. One to get to Shiro and one to get from the prison ship to Kolivan and where you all will be fighting. But you'll be in a big fight during that second wormhole, so I need to know you can do it." Lance turned back around to look at her..

"I'll do it." Allura looked determined.

"You're not going to go rescue Shiro by yourself. It's too dangerous." Keith said. His eyebrows were knitted together in frustration with Lance's plan.

Lance raised an eyebrow. "Of course not. You're coming too."

* * *

 **A/N:** Yea! Black Paladin Lance!

I officially have decided on how I'm organizing the final chapters of this story. There will be 3 more chapters! I'm not gonna change my mind, so it's however long it takes me to finish each of these chapters when they go up.

I'm trying to rush them a bit. I really wish Voltron staff had given me a bit more time between s6 and s7 because now my story seems even more behind than it already was lmao!

I'm so EXCITED though! Who else?


	20. Chapter 19

Keith followed Lance through the wormhole. They left the others behind to deal with Lotor. Fifteen minutes. That was what they all agreed upon. If they couldn't rescue Shiro in fifteen minutes Allura would send a wormhole their way and they'd take it, leaving Shiro behind.

It was a small window, but any window was better than ditching their friend, mentor, and former leader. Keith didn't want to think about how much more Shiro meant to him. He was the only family Keith had, and Keith couldn't afford to be emotionally compromised going into a battle.

He took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. "So, Sharpshooter, what's the plan?"

"Uh…" Lance replied. "I don't exactly have one…"

"You what?!"

"Yeah, I just knew I had to do _something_. I'll think of a plan when we get there."

"It doesn't take that much time between entering a wormhole and getting to your destination. That's kind of the point!" Keith glared at the Black lion through Red's glass. "Why did you pick me to go along then? Wouldn't it have been more useful to have Pidge or someone else with a big brain who could hack through cell doors and stuff?"

"Well…" Lance trailed off, decidedly not finishing his sentence.

"Well what?"

Lance said it slowly. "It's just...I know you care about Shiro. I didn't want to leave you off this mission…" He paused, before speeding up his words. "And I knew we couldn't afford three lions for Shiro's rescue. Kolivan needs all the help he can get."

"I guess...that makes sense…" It made about as much sense as anything Keith could have come up with.

"So...go in guns blazing, okay?"

They slid through the wormhole. Time and space warped around them and they were suddenly face to face with the Galra prison ship. In Keith's estimation at least forty smaller ships surrounded it. Small and fast ships, but easy enough to destroy.

Immediately Keith began shooting. Three ships began rapidly firing back. Keith dodged their attacks separating from Lance, to trail them further away from the prison ship.

Lance jumped into action as well. Sending the powerful black lion lasers vibrating through space on target. One ship was caught in his blast, and two others were nearby enough to gain some damage as well.

"I'm going to try to circle the prison ship to look for an opening while I take some of these smaller ships out. You do the same!" Lance yelled over the comm system.

"Roger!" Keith yelled back, gritting his teeth in concentration.

He turned Red in a large arc, allowing a few of the enemy ships to catch up to his momentum, before promptly firing a long laser blast into their wings. The closest ship's wing was blown off completely, causing it to smash into the one behind it and destroy them both.

He spun around, extending the arc to move him closer to the prison ship. Four more Galra ships came from below trying to cut him off. Keith was forced to do a tight spin, and bash three of them with Red's tail, to prevent them from stopping Red in her tracks.

The last ship sent lasers firing, preventing Keith from getting any closer to the prison ship. He turned around again, this time diving downward, around the belly of the prison ship, right where it had just come from.

He hoped that there wouldn't be more where those had been.

Another three ships closed in on either side of Red. Keith fired off a few blasts before suspending Red from moving forward. The ships whizzed past, giving Keith an opening to fire Red's mouth lasers targeting their gas tanks.

The explosions blocked Keith's view. By the time they had cleared another two ships were pressing in on Red.

"Lance! I'm not finding any openings!"

Lance yelled in frustration. "I'm not either!"

* * *

The team watched the wormhole close. Without a word, Allura busied herself in making a second portal. Whatever anxieties they had, they couldn't wait around when their allies needed their help.

She pulled at the power within herself. Light flashed in the sky, a second wormhole created.

"It's time to go! Everybody ready?"

Hunk and Pidge yelled their affirmatives while Matt and Coran focused on steering the castle into the light.

Allura rushed to Blue. She would be behind the others, but would have to catch up quickly. They really didn't know what was facing them on the other side, except that it was large and dangerous.

The wormhole pulled at their senses as they went through.

Immediate blasts rammed into the castle as they appeared at the rebel base. It was sent flying backward. If the wormhole had still been in place they would have been sent back to where they had just come from.

Allura was rammed into the steering of the Blue lion, not yet ready in her ship for such sudden blasts.

"Kolivan! Kolivan!" She yelled, tightening the straps on her chair.

"Thank the stars you're here! The smaller pilot ships are getting wiped out. I need Voltron to protect them so they can get out of there!" Kolivan yelled.

Allura flung Blue's controls forward, sending them shooting out into the blackness of space. Hunk and Pidge were already ready, speeding towards Lotor's lion as fast as they could.

Lance and Keith had told them it was huge, but nothing had actually prepared them for this. The white lion loomed in the distance, bigger than even Voltron.

"Oh no." Hunk said.

No one answered him. They didn't have to. They were all in agreement.

"Where are the Red and Black lions? I need you to form Voltron immediately!" Kolivan asked.

Nobody answered.

* * *

"We don't have enough time to take down all these ships! We need to get inside _NOW!_ " Keith yelled. Their time was dwindling with each ship they wrecked. If there was an chance of getting to Shiro they'd have to find a way through this herd.

"What can we do! They're small but there are too many to get close."

"We've got to do _something!_ " Keith yelled, taking out another ship but two more appeared where the downed ship exploded.

"We need to...I don't know...take them all down at once."

"They're too split up to be able to take them all down at once! How is that going to work?!" Keith yelled, frustrated.

"I don't know...we have to herd them somehow. You know, like a couple of border collies."

"What are you even talking about?!" Keith dodged as another ship appeared firing its lasers.

"Don't lie to me Keith! I know you grew up in the country in Texas! You probably had cows at some point!"

"I never owned cows, we only ever had chickens!"

"Close enough!" Lance yelled.

"AAARRGHHH-fine! We have to draw them all out away from the prison ship first."

"Yeaah! That's my mullet head!"

"Don't-call me that…" Keith focused on circling the Prison ship to try and get as many ships following him as possible.

Keith slowed down, dodging around one, shooting at it to ge its attention. It began following him, sending shots after him that he could lazily dodge.

He swung red right next to the prison ship. Another four ships came out of nowhere to try and block his path. He fired at them, damaging three of them and making one explode right away. It blasted apart sending pieces flying.

A piece of the smashed hull came flying off at high speed. It was too large for Keith to dodge in time. The hull cracked against Red, smashing them hard between the metal and the prison ship and sending them sliding. Red's claws dug into the ship's side to stop them.

Keith gritted his teeth in frustration.

The hull had slowed him down more than he wanted it to. Several ships that were following now converged, trying to surround him. He threw Red's controls forward, ramming her into one of the ships and sending it flying.

It was enough. Keith tore through the break among the Galra ships, sending several of them to scatter briefly before they fell into line behind him again.

Keith glanced back at the ships following him. He'd managed to gather a group of at least 12 ships. Hopefully Lance was getting the rest.

"Lance, how are you doing?" Keith asked, flying tightly to the side of the prison ship.

"I've got a good sized group following me. Let's take them to the front of the prison ship and get rid of them!"

Keith tore off at a higher speed. He was still flying slower than usual, just fast enough to maintain a lead on the galra ships while making sure they were still able to keep up. He began to turn in an arc, trying to make his movements obvious so the galra would think they could get a good shot in.

Many of them tried and Keith dodged lazily again. He saw Lance ahead of him with his own tail of galra ships. The arc Keith had led his own on would keep them hidden from view up until the last possible second. He moved Red forward slightly faster.

Right as Red was going to slam into one of Lance's ships he pulled tightly on the controls, swinging them upward. Red shot up like a cannon, out of the way. It was a move only she could do.

Several of the galra ships rammed together, causing fiery explosions throughout.

"Keith! Your rail gun!" Lance yelled. They had to act fast or all of the work would be a wash.

Keith turned on a dime, slamming his bayard into place. The gun sprung out of Red's back. He sent a pulse so strong it even washed Black backward a few paces. The ships he had sent it toward blasted apart. It rang forward through the sky into the prison ship, tearing the front wide open to the abyss of space.

"Nice one!" Lance yelled.

"Let's get Shiro!"

* * *

"Coran, Matt, I need you to focus on rescuing as many rebels as you can from the base!" Allura yelled into the comms.

"Understood!" Matt yelled back. The castle shuddered to a halt and they went to work on connecting it to the base to start being able to shuttle allies into the quarters.

The three lions charged at Lotor. A giant paw came barreling down at them, separating them from each other as they were forced to scatter.

Beams of light shot from its tail, aimed at the rebel pilots flying smaller ships. The white lion roared, sending a wave of force crashing over the ships. It tossed even the voltron lions about, sending them a hundred yards further away.

Lotor focused his beams on one of the rebel ships. Sending a blast of dark purple energy out, larger than the previous beams.

"No!" Hunk yelled. He forced Yellow forward.

He was just close enough to the ship to slam into it, forcing it out of the way, before the beam could hit. It left him vulnerable in the line of fire.

The purple energy hit, surrounding Yellow. The bright light in its eyes shut off.

"Hunk!" Pidge and Allura yelled together.

There was no answer. They watched as Yellow tumbled through space.

Pidge raced Green towards him at the same time as Allura yelled. "Kolivan! We need backup!"

* * *

They flew forward into the damaged frame of the prison ship. Ship parts and galra bodies rammed into the mangled metal before they were flung into space. The hole was large enough for even their lions to fit through.

They found space to land inside. Keith watched as Black dug her claws into the floor near a gate leading inside. He had Red do the same.

"How much time do we have left?" Keith asked.

"Not long. We never had much time to begin with though. Only about 10 minutes remaining."

Keith swore. It was going to be impossible to search this entire ship in that amount of time. They'd have to be either very lucky or very smart, and probably both, if they were going to have any chance of finding Shiro.

"Black should still have a connection with Shiro right?" Keith asked.

Lance paused before he answered, Keith wasn't sure why. "Yes, that was my thought. Give me a moment, I'm going to try to find him."

The silence was deafening. Keith waited with bated breath as he let seconds tick by, untamed. He wanted to do more than just be silent, but this part was up to Lance.

Keith breathed deeply. He stretched for a moment. He was ready.

"I'm not sure." Lance said softly over the comm.

"Lance?" Keith asked.

"I'm having trouble. Keith, you...you have a connection to Shiro, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I...well...I know Red doesn't have the same connection to Shiro as Black does, but maybe she can use _your_ connection to find him."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"We're running out of time to find him. You have to try. You-" Lance's voice broke. "You love him...you have to try…"

Keith breathed for a moment. Lance was right, he _did_ love Shiro. Shiro was a brother to him, the only one he'd ever had. Sometimes people back on Earth could feel it when something bad happened to a family member they loved. There was a connection there that couldn't be explained easily by science. Lance was right. It was worth a shot.

"Okay." Keith said simply.

Lance remained quiet, allowing him to focus.

He focused. Keith tried to pull all the emotions he felt toward Shiro in the forethought of his brain. He pulled on the memories and on the bond they shared as kin. "Red...help me find him."

She strengthened that bond. Keith had been Shiro's right hand just as surely as he was now Lance's. Red pulled at the connection between them, making it more focused, separating it from his other emotions and forming it into a string. Keith helped her pull it tight before they could followed it.

It took them down, down, down, quickly through the various dark corridors of the ship. It wound through the halls, switching quickly. Left and right and then right again.

And then as clear as any picture he had, Shiro was in front of him. Irritated, pacing his cell.

"I found him." Keith groaned, coming out of his trance. "He's somewhere on the lower levels of the ship."

"No time to explain where. Let's go." Lance said, already popping his head out of Black.

* * *

Kolivan answered Allura's call as quickly as he could. "I'm trying to get some of our larger ships ready. Lotor shouldn't be able to blast them out of the sky as easily, but they'll be slower."

As he spoke, five larger ships flew from the base, directed at the white lion.

"We'll make due!" Allura said, thanking Kolivan silently. "We need a distraction!"

The rebel ships flew towards Lotor, buzzing like flies around his lion's head. He had the white lion swat at them with her paws and tail. They dodged as best they could, but it sent one of the ships flying.

Pidge took it as enough. They flew to Yellow, screaming. "Hunk! Hunk! Are you okay?!"

Green clasped onto Yellow, gripping tightly giant paw to giant paw. Pidge flung themself out into space, toward Yellow's mouth, not taking a moment to show any fear.

What kind of monstrous beam of energy could shut down Yellow with only one blast? Of all the ships Yellow was the strongest, and had the most armor.

Allura flew forward, trying to relieve some of the attacks the rest of the rebels were taking. Another of their ships was blasted out of the sky by the white lion's powerful tail blasts.

"Allura, you're out of time! We need Voltron!" Coran yelled from the castle as he watched everything unfold.

Allura gritted her teeth, grinding them in her frustration.

* * *

They ran through the halls, weapons blazing. It was quick work. It had to be.

With Lance it was easy to take care of any galra they found. Working together felt seamless to Keith. They had trained together enough to know each other's moves as well as they knew their own.

Keith charged at a galra who appeared, slicing into his blaster before he had a chance to aim it at Lance. Lance responded by shooting the galra square in the jaw.

But it was more than just the training. Keith could have been with anyone else on the team and it wouldn't have been the same, not even with Shiro. They had a bond.

Lance sent shots flying through the air, blasting a few galra to the ground. Keith glanced at him, sending him a smile of approval, but Lance didn't look his way.

Although, this fight felt a bit strange. When they had fought together against Lotor it had felt different somehow. Keith couldn't place it, but it almost felt as though Lance was pulling away from him.

Keith ducked under a galra's sword, before throwing his weight into his opponent, sending him sprawling. Lance shot him in the chest before they continued.

He blocked it from his mind. For now they had to concentrate at the task on hand. He could figure out what was wrong later. As long as they worked together well, and Lance wasn't too distracted they wouldn't have a problem with this fight.

Keith led the way down the corridors. They ran past prisoners both galra and other species. Some of the prisoners jeered at them, some of them cheered them on as they ran past. Keith knew they wouldn't be able to leave this ship without freeing them. They just had to get to Shiro first.

Down another corridor, a shot rang out. It hit lance in the side. He was blasted backwards. Keith ran to wipe out the offending galra before running to Lance's side.

"Are you okay?!" Keith asked, offering Lance his hand.

"I'm fine." Lance said quickly. He ignored the hand that Keith offered him and stood up, pressing against a wall to help himself up. He didn't even make eye contact with Keith.

Keith shook his head. It was weird behavior. He looked down at where the blaster had hit, and was glad to see it hadn't gone through Lance's armor, it had only knocked him backwards.

Lance pushed past Keith, being careful not to bump into him as he did so. Keith frowned as they continued their way down the corridor.

He took a deep breath, focusing back on the task of finding Shiro.

Keith could see the map of the prison ship in his mind. They only had one more corridor to go.

"Lance, it's just around here."

Lance nodded. They dove around the corridor and were met with a few blasts. Quick work. Even with something off, the galra didn't stand a chance against Keith and Lance. They were a pair.

"Lance!" They heard Shiro yell, and then slightly more softly, "Keith!"

"Shiro!" Keith disarmed his bayard before hugging his friend through the bars. "I can't believe we found you."

"We've got to go. We don't have much time." Lance said.

His voice was strange. Keith looked at him and noticed he was looking pointedly away.

"Of course. Lance can you blast the door open?" Keith asked, releasing Shiro.

He obliged. The cell swung outward and Shiro lept outside.

"What's happening? Where is everyone else? And we need to free the prisoners." Shiro said, already taking command of the situation.

"It's just us who came to rescue you. The others are in a fight with Lotor and we need to get to them so we can form Voltron. They won't stand a chance without us. Allura's making a wormhole, which should be showing up in minutes." Keith said, trying to recount all the events in as little time as possible.

"We brought Red…" Lance paused. "A-and Black."

Lance's voice was strange again. Keith couldn't place why.

Shiro looked at Keith, a smile breaking out on his face. "Alright, Keith, we don't have much time. I take it the explosions I felt destroyed the main command centers of the ship. If that's the case we'll need to free the prisoners on the smaller cargo ships that are inside the main hangar."

Keith nodded. Continuing to listen.

"I've been working with some of the older prisoners aboard, they'll know which prisoners we can trust. Take Black and try to open the hangar doors using the jaw blade, we probably won't be able to open them otherwise." Shiro turned to Lance. "Lance help Keith however you can in Red."

Lance looked at the floor, silent and unsure of himself.

Shiro didn't notice. He turned away, grabbing one of the blasters off a galra. He tested it with his arm. Shooting a couple blasts.

"Umm.." Keith said, realizing one of the reasons Lance may have been acting strange. "Actually...I'm in Red."

* * *

 **A/N:** Never thought I'd be googling how to herd livestock for a Voltron fic, but eeehh, you gotta do what you gotta do.

These fight scenes are the hardest for me to write. It's so much about balancing fighting and emotion, and then also coming up with strategy and making sure the entire fight has ups and downs. They take so much time and so much energy.

And also Lance...you poor poor, stupid boy. Keith doesn't love Shiro like that...at least not in this fic.

Also best out of context line so far..."Lance and Keith had told them it was huge, but nothing had actually prepared them for this."

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

I'm so close to the end. And I'm so excited to write this next chapter!

*cackles about what's gonna happen in the next chapter and cracks knuckles over her keyboard*

Two more chapters lovelies!


	21. Chapter 20

"Oh…" Shiro said. His eyebrows shot upward slightly giving himself a few forehead wrinkles.

Keith and Lance stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

It was Lance who broke the silence first. "Well…uh…" He looked down at his feet, teeth gritted. "We can't stay here. We've gotta go if we want it to make it to the others on time." He turned to leave, forcing his feet to move.

"Wait, Lance." Shiro moved to place a hand on Lance's shoulder, but Lance shrugged him off and kept going.

"We really don't have time to stand around." Lance said, refusing to turn around. He continued moving forward, picking up the pace a bit so the others were forced to follow.

Shiro frowned, but began following silently. Keith brought up the rear.

As though on queue Allura's voice rang out over the comms. "I don't know how much more time I can spare! I need to wormhole you to our location immediately."

"Allura, we've got Shiro, we'll notify you when we're to the Lions." Lance replied, moving faster down the hall.

Lance had a pretty good memory of what direction to go in, having just come from there. He looked around corridors carefully before ducking around them. He made sure to keep just enough of a lead on Shiro and Keith that they didn't have a chance to talk to him.

Every once in a while they'd get closer and Shiro would whisper, "Lance, wait!"

But Lance would just duck around the next corner.

Shiro's frown deepened as they walked. Because he could not talk to Lance, he spoke to Keith in a whisper instead. "Keith, I know that we need to leave to help the others, but I can't leave the prisoners on this ship. They're all enemies of the Galra and potentially valuable allies to our cause. I won't leave them to continue to be prisoners and slaves."

"Then we're gonna need a plan." Keith looked at Lance's back, his eyes softening as Lance was about to duck around yet another corridor.

Shiro nodded slowly continuing to look at Keith instead, then cocked his head to the side slightly, a weird smile playing at his lips.

"What's going on between you two, anyway?" Shiro asked casually.

Keith choked on his own spit and managed to cough out. "Nothing."

Shiro raised his eyebrow. "I know you better than that, Keith."

Keith was not about to have this conversation, so he looked ahead and called out to Lance in a loud whisper. "Lance, seriously, stop!"

Lance turned to look at Keith, his gaze questioning. It gave enough time for them to catch up to him.

Shiro grabbed his shoulder to prevent him turning away yet again. "Lance, listen to me for a minute."

"There's not a lot of time. We're almost back to the lions. Can't this wait?" Lance said, still refusing to meet Shiro's eyes.

"No, it can't."

"If you're worried about who's going to be piloting Black, don't be. I don't mind stepping down. It makes the most sense, Keith's more your right hand man than mi-"

"You idiot!" Keith smacked him on the shoulder.

Lance briefly met Keith's eyes surprised.

" _That's_ what this is about?" Keith rolled his eyes. Lance was a lot of things, and idiot was a frequent one, but even so…

"What Keith means," Shiro paused, taking a moment to glare at Keith, "is that we need to free the prisoners first."

"But there isn't enough time. We have to get you to the others so that we can form Voltron." Lance said quickly.

"No, we don't."

"But-"

"Lance! Listen for a minute." Shiro paused again. "I'm staying aboard the prison ship."

"What?!" Both Keith and Lance forgot themselves for a moment and shouted.

Shiro glared at them both before continuing. "The only way to free the prisoners is if someone stays here and pilots the prison ship to safety through the wormhole. If you two don't get back to the others they'll be in trouble. I'll need help freeing the prisoners and taking over the ship, but after that you two will need to go."

"But-"

Shiro raised his eyebrows at Lance, effectively silencing him. "Lance, listen to me." Shiro took a breath, softening his tone as he said his next words. "I'm not the Black paladin anymore. You are. You need to lead the others to victory. The only way Voltron gets formed is with you."

Lance went to open his mouth again, but Shiro frowned and he stayed silent instead.

"You've clearly grown a lot, as a person, as a paladin, but most importantly as a leader. You've always reminded me a bit of myself. You're creative and daring, you listen to others advice, and are stronger for it. We all consider you a friend," he shot Keith a _look_ , "some consider you even mo-ouch"

Keith took an opportunity to step on Shiro's foot. His eyes were wide. He didn't want to hear where Shiro had been going with that sentence.

Shiro coughed to regain his composure. "You're going to make a great leader, Lance. You already are one."

Lance stayed quiet for a moment before saying, "Let's do this." He yelled on the comms. "Allura! I'm going to need you to stall for just a little bit longer."

"Lance! I don't know if I can do that! We're not prepared to fight these Galra without Voltron."

"I don't want to risk anyone's safety. Try and run evasive maneuvers until we can get there. We'll finish this as soon as we can. I know you can do this Allura. Call us immediately if things start getting worse."

Shiro had a pretty good idea of the layout of the ship already. They made quick work of the floors leading up to the control room. They were doing this guns blazing style. They didn't have the option to take things slow or to come up with a different plan.

They'd have to take the control room quickly and then the moment any of them got a chance near the main computer to free all the prisoners.

Before the doors to the control room, Keith pinned a Galra to the wall to get the door code. Pidge, of course, could have made quick work of the doors themself, but Keith was glad for some good old fashioned threatening.

They held their weapons ready as the doors slid open. Immediately they were barraged with blaster fire.

Keith danced around the blaze as it came. He dodged around blasts and slashed through the nearest Galra's blaster.

Lance's movement's were animated and quick. He got to work with his good aim, making sure to keep clear of the blaster fire at the same time. As soon as he found an opening he slammed one Galra into the wall with his full force.

It left an opening for Keith, who slid around Lance and to the next Galra, slicing at him without hesitation.

Shiro went after the Galra that looked to be the captain. He slashed at him with his glowing hand. The Galra dodged, but Shiro was faster, incapacitating him with his other hand.

Keith and Lance made it to the main computer at the same time.

"Keith! Figure out how to release the prisoners I'll cover for you!" Lance yelled over the sounds of blaster fire.

Keith got to work, pulling at an unconscious Galra's hand to be able to unlock the computer, before searching for the command sequence he was looking for.

"It's gonna take me longer than it would take Pidge, I'm not a tech wizard." Keith said over his shoulder.

"I've got your back for as long as you need!"

Lance meant that, quite literally too. Keith felt one of Lane's shoulder blades press against his own as he carefully scanned the room for any dangers.

Shiro was still madly fighting the captain. Keith watched, looking up from the computer for a moment as another of the Galra approached Shiro from behind. Before he could utter a word, a blue blast shot out at the Galra, hitting him squarely in the chest.

"Nice one, Lance!"

Keith got back to work, there was no one else he'd trust more with his safety.

A loud banging sound over the comms made them glance at each other in fear.

Lance yelled into his helmet. "Allura, what's happening?!"

There was no sound for a moment. Both Keith and Lance held their breath. Keith could see the fear in Lance's eyes, the doubt in if he made the right decisions, the worry that he had doomed his friends.

Suddenly a loud sound of fuzz broke over the comms before Allura's voice managed to break through the buzzing. "-It's not good! Lotor-he-hit us with some sort of ion blast. Pidge and I managed to be on the outskirts...but Hunk-"

"What happened!?" Lance shouted.

"He was too close to Lotor's lion. Yellow's gone dark and we can't reach him. We don't know if he's okay!"

"Keith! How close are you to getting that command through?"

The Galra tech under Keith's fingers was surprisingly organized. He had managed to sort through a few commands, but there were still several to go before he'd be able to find the one to open the prisoner cells.

"I just need another minute!"

"Allura! We're almost there! Just try to get Hunk away from Lotor before he can do any more damage. Don't take any risks!"

A second later Keith found the command he only a few presses of buttons he heard a ruckus beginning somewhere far off in the ship.

The Galra captain looked toward the noise, giving Shiro enough time to pull him into a headlock before smashing his hand into the Galra's head making him fall unconscious.

With a few more beams from Lance's blaster the rest of the Galra were incapacitated.

"Good work team!" Shiro said, high fiving them both. "I can take the ship over from here. You need to go!"

Keith and Lance nodded at him. They turned toward the doors, already starting their sprint.

"Wait!" Shiro yelled after them.

Lance and Keith stopped, turning back to Shiro simultaneously.

Shiro nodded at them before talking. "Keith, you can go on ahead, I needed a word with Lance for a moment."

Lance made eye contact with Keith, frowning as Keith turned back around. He shrugged at Lance, not sure what Shiro wanted, before taking off once more in a sprint.

"What is it Shiro? I need to get to the others." Lance asked.

"Look...I wanted to apologize for not noticing sooner."

"Noticing what?"

"What an incredible leader you'd make. I should have nurtured that in you more. It'll be my biggest regret as a leader myself."

"Oh..." Lance's eyes lit up a bit at Shiro's words.

"You're going to be an amazing leader Lance." He put his hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Thanks, Shiro." He let the words sit with him, feeling his pride swell in his chest.

"Listen, Lance, being a leader is difficult. You're going to constantly question if you're making the right decisions. It can feel isolating at times. Just remember it's the skill of the team that makes the skill of the leader. You have a good team around you, and you should rely on them as much as they rely on you."

Lance nodded at his words, absorbing them.

"But Lance, you also have to remember that sometimes it's okay to go after what you want as well. Sometimes that can make the team stronger. Part of being a leader is recognizing the people we need in our life."

An image of Keith's face flashed in Lance's mind.

"What do you mean?" Lance asked, a bit too quickly. He didn't want to jump the gun, or get too excited. It almost sounded like Shiro was giving him his blessing.

"I think you know what I mean. You two have a connection. That's only gotten stronger as time has passed. We have a dangerous job protecting this universe. Time for us is too unknown to neglect the people we love."

"Ah."

"But what I really wanted to say was that you're already doing a great job, and I know that no matter what happens, Voltron is in good hands."

He squeezed Lance's shoulder before shoving him toward the door. Lance nodded at him before beginning his sprint down the hall to try to catch up to Keith.

"Go save the universe!" Shiro yelled after him.

Lance ran down the hall, breathing hard. He yelled into the comms. "Allura! We're on our way to the lions."

"I'll get the wormhole ready." Her voice sounded relieved, but there was a stress there that told Lance that they were about to enter into a bigger fight than they even realized.

Lance let Shiro's words run through his head. He had to trust his decisions, his instincts. He couldn't worry about if he'd made the right decision while also being able to focus his full ability on a fight.

But if it was Lance's decision that led to Hunk getting injured or worse? Lance wasn't sure how he could deal with that.

Hunk wasn't the only one that Lance was worried about. This was his team. Allura could handle most situations, but that didn't mean there wasn't incredible risk to what he put her through and he respected her too much for it not to affect him if she were hurt. Pidge was like a sibling to Lance, it would tear him to pieces for them to suffer.

And Keith?

Lance's whole world would crumble to dust if Keith didn't make it out of a fight. He was so capable of looking after himself so Lance didn't want to have to worry, but at the same time Keith was Lance's best friend. It was strange to think how much things had changed from the beginning. Best friend felt right to Lance, but he knew that his connection with Keith was even deeper than that. Lance had known for a while, but putting it into words for the first time made his heart pound in his ears. The realization shook him.

It transcended words.

He managed to catch up with Keith in front of their lions. Keith took one look at him and shot him a wide smile. Lance felt his knees turn to jello.

"Are you ready for this?" Keith said. "Let's go save our friends."

He went to turn away, but Lance grabbed his wrist before he could. "Wait."

"Lance? What is it?" Keith blinked at Lance, his smile gone, a frown taking its place. His brow wrinkled a bit in confusion.

"I just wanted to tell you something…" Lance trailed off, not sure how to word what he felt. He could feel Keith's heartbeat from the hold on his wrist. It sped up slightly, but was still keeping an even pace. Lance's heartbeat was going faster. He could feel it like a drum in his head, counting down the seconds.

"Can it wait? Our friends need us, the wormhole is about to open. We don't have any time here." Keith said it softly, before gently taking a step in toward Lance, worry still furrowing his brow.

"That's the problem. There may not be any time, so I wanted to make it now." Lance grabbed Keith's other hand.

The move was like electricity to Keith, he jolted, surprised, his brain almost telling him to run away before his heart forced his feet rooted to the ground. He looked up in Lance's eyes, puzzling what emotion he could see there. He didn't want to hope, just in case, but his mind raced, already dedicating this moment to his memory forever.

"What is it?" Keith barely breathed the words, he wasn't even sure if Lance had heard him.

Lance slid the hand on Keith's wrist up his shoulder to rest gently on his neck. The hair there was standing on end, making Keith want to shiver at the sensation, but he held still, waiting, not even daring to breath.

Lance leaned in. He was looking into Keith's eyes before he dropped them to look at Keith's lips instead. He hesitated. Involuntarily Lance chewed on his own lip gently.

Keith moved, less than an inch closer, hoping he wasn't about to scare Lance away.

It was enough. Lance dropped his lip from his teeth and moved in the rest of the way, closing his eyes at the last moment.

Their lips pressed together, gently at first, and then quickly became more frenzied.

Keith's neck was hot under Lance's hand. The warmth rose from his neck into his face, turning his cheeks pink.

Keith raised his free hand, to pull Lance in even closer, but before he was able to touch Lance's skin the ringing sound of the wormhole opening startled them apart.

Lance dropped Keith's hand like he'd been electrocuted. He skittered away, completely shocked at himself.

"Uh...sorry...uh…" Lance was flustered, trying to have a coherent thought. "We have to go!"

He ran toward Black leaving Keith standing, shocked, for a moment, not sure exactly what had just happened either, even though he'd been a more than willing participant in it.

He shook his head to clear it before running for Red.

* * *

Black, followed closely by Red and the slower prison ship sped threw the wormhole. The other end led them immediately into chaos. Blasts of light were shooting in every direction.

Lance focused so that he could piece together what exactly was going on. Lotor's ship was giant compared to any of the Blade's ships. They buzzed around him like flies, as he tried to knock them out of the air with anything he had.

He could see that Blue and Green were doing their best to avoid any of Lotor's blasts while trying to gain ground so that they could rescue Yellow. Even in the time it took Keith and Lance to make an appearance they still hadn't been successful in rescuing Hunk.

Lance closed his eyes for a moment to silently hope that Hunk was okay. It would be his fault if he wasn't. Without Yellow they wouldn't be able to form Voltron either, and his entire plan would be for nothing. There wouldn't be anything they could do.

On top of everything happening Lance had only embarrassed himself further in the previous moments with Keith. Just thinking about it made his ears tinge pink. He could feel his face was hot.

Black started to drift away from its path in Lance's momentary distraction.

"Uhh...Keith...I just wanted to say sorry about all that from a moment ago. Just forget anything happened okay?"

"Lance!" Keith shouted, hoping to wake him up from his daze. "Just focus for now we can talk about it later."

Inside Red Keith's ears were pink as well. Right now he couldn't think about the kiss. He had to focus.

"Right! Uhh…" Lance focused again on the battle at hand. "Allura! Pidge! We need to know where help is needed the most!"

He watched them as they tried to dodge around more blasts coming from Lotor's ship.

"We're still trying to get to Hunk! Lotor's not giving us any chance for an opening!" Allura yelled through the comms.

"We'll try to distract him!" Lance assured her. "Keith, we're gonna need to get in close to Lotor's lion's face."

"You do remember he has a giant mouth canon that nearly killed us before? Right?"

"Yep."

Keith sighed. "Okay, then. Let's do this."

"Take Lotor's right. I'll take his left. We've got to make him notice us. Fire with everything you have!"

"Got it!"

They flew toward Lotor fast, keeping pace with each other. As soon as they were close enough for him to claw them out of the air they split up, each focusing on dodging anything he sent towards them.

Lance used Black's jawblade to slice through part of the white lion's shoulder. It roared angrily, rearing back a bit, before its paw came down trying to slice through Black. Lance dodged, but he wasn't yet used to Black's movements and the force clipped one of Black's wings sending him spinning off course.

"Lance!" Keith shouted.

"I'm alright! It was just clumsy maneuvering on my part."

Lance swerved so that he was facing Lotor again. "C'mon Black, let's work together." He muttered to the lion. He hoped she was listening. He didn't have the connection with her that he'd had with Blue or Red, but he wanted it to be there.

It would take time and effort to show her what a leader he could be, but he knew that with hers and the rest of the team's support it was possible. Right now he'd prove that he could lead them all by destroying Lotor's ship.

He took off toward Lotor's left, coming up fast. "Show me what you've got." He muttered to his lion again.

Keith was already there, blasting Lotor with his lava fire.

Lotor swatted at him, forcing Keith to stop and dodge. Lance didn't give Lotor much of an opportunity to attack though, forcing his hand by shooting Black's lasers aimed into the Lion's other eye.

The two attacking lions combined together forced Lotor back a bit. Lance was hopeful that it was giving the others enough cover.

"Allura, how is it going down there?"

"We've made it to Hunk, but we still have to get him out of here and figure out what's wrong!"

"We'll keep forcing Lotor backward!"

Lance didn't want to leave any opening for Lotor to shoot his larger canons, although he knew that he was leaving himself and Keith vulnerable the longer they were close by. It would only take one shot to knock both of them away, damaging their ships in the process.

"Lance! Watch out!" Keith yelled.

Just in time Lance dodged out of the way as the White Lion's tail extended towards him, firing off a bright white burst of heated energy. The heat radiating from it almost singed Lance's eyebrows. He was lucky that Keith had noticed in time.

"Thanks!"

It had forced Lance backwards and the few seconds it took allowed for Lotor's lion to open its mouth and start charging some purple energy. Lance was right in the way, and he didn't like the look of it.

"Lance!" Keith yelled again.

Keith watched helplessly as Black swerved widely. Backpedaling as best he could out of the way, Lance watched the purple energy build up before being shot out towards him.

It clipped Black's wing again and sent him flying even further backward, spinning out of control. Lance's hands were doing everything they could flitting around the controls, trying to find some way to stop his momentum. Black bashed into one of the Blade's ships. It crunched upon impact. Lance winced. He hoped the rebel inside was okay.

Lotor didn't give him a chance to recover. He immediately sent out more blasts from the tail.

"You forgot about me!" Keith yelled at Lotor, even though he couldn't hear him. Keith used his bayard to have Red expose the giant rail gun on her back. She fired directly into the white lion's eye.

Lotor veered off course, allowing Lance to straighten out finally. He pulled up toward the white lion's other eye.

"Ready, Keith?!"

"Ready!"

They fired. Blast after distracting blast his Lotor. The bursts of energy weren't enough to bring him down, barely enough to cause damage, but together they forced him backward and gave the rest of the team the valuable time they needed to pull Yellow away from the battle.

"We've got him!" Allura shouted, happy to have succeeded.

Pidge was more serious in their reply. "I'm gonna check out what's happening with the ship and that he's okay. We need you to keep Lotor distracted for a bit longer."

"Okay!" Keith and Lance shouted at the same time.

Lance considered the situation. He and Keith could fight off Lotor for a while, but it would be a pretty big stretch of their abilities. "Allura, we could use your backup out here now that Pidge has a handle on Yellow."

"I'm coming now!"

With three lions against Lotor they stood a better chance. Allura could use her ice canon to stop Lotor from advancing while Lance and Keith focused on pushing him back.

The white lion swatted at Keith and Lance's ships again. Lance was more careful with maneuvering Black out of the way. He needed to get used to Black's controls as soon as possible. It was a big weakness in the fight if their, Lance's chest swelled with pride as he thought, _leader_ wasn't able to control his lion to the full extent.

Keith dodged the claws easily. He should have been focused entirely on himself in the fight, but couldn't help spending a little of his attention on Lance at all times. Fortunately Red was the fastest, and Lotor stood no chance against her speed even as the pilot's brain was half focused elsewhere.

Allura caught up to them and immediately got to work. Lance didn't even have to tell her. There was a huge strength in a team that knew their own strengths.

She iced White's legs as much as possible, creating a large wall even the white lion would have difficulty getting through.

"Nice one, Allura!" Lance cheered her on. "Keith, let's send Lotor backward!"

Lance pulled out Black's jawblade again and flew in close to Lotor, trying to cause as much damage as possible. Keith busied himself in creating more lava and fire for Lotor to fend off.

They made a strong crew.

Lotor moved backward, trying to avoid the blows from Lance and Keith. The ice wall wasn't allowing him to do much except retreat.

"Keep going!" Lance yelled, spurring his team on.

Allura sped up, trying to keep up with Lotor's movements. The ice became thicker as she moved, keeping Lotor away, walls building up to almost surround them.

It was Lance who noticed first, but he was too late. "Allura! Wait-"

Lotor had let them trap themselves. Lance rushed toward Blue, pushing her out of the way of Lotor's purple blast. They weren't able to move back towards the Blade's base fast enough. With the ice walls around them they were unable to scatter and dodge like usual.

The blast hit Black squarely in the shoulder. Lance spun out of control again, but he had managed to keep Allura from getting hit.

"Lance!" Keith yelled once more.

"I'm fine! Keith, get out of there!" Lance yelled back.

They began their retreat, trying to dodge Lotor's blasts and hard blocks of ice that were being blown apart by them. Lotor advanced back through the ice walls, destroying them as he went.

"Aaaaaggghh!" Lance yelled, his frustration getting the better of him for a moment. They were losing all of the ground they'd worked so hard to make.

Suddenly a bright blue light from ahead appeared. The bang resonated from the canon as it fired. Bright light whizzed just past Black and hit the white lion squarely on the jaw. She roared.

"Miss me?!"

"Hunk!" Lance yelled, happy to see him.

He was just in time. A moment later and Pidge pulled up alongside Hunk, Green's mouth laser at the ready.

"Lance, it's time." Keith said over the comms.

He was right. There was no time to lose, they needed to finish this battle.

"Form Voltron!" Lance shouted.

The lions flew together in formation. Flying around each other before beginning to merge. Lance felt the rumble as each of the lions came together. Blue and Yellow as the legs, Red and Green as the arms, and Lance with Black as the head.

Keith pulled out the sword without Lance even having to usher a command. They were completely in sync.

Lotor's lion was still slightly bigger than Voltron, but it wasn't going to be enough. Five paladins in sync were better than one.

They swung the sword as Lotor approached, forcing him to dodge around their blade. He backed up just enough to be out of their reach. They watched as his lion transformed into a more human like figure, with its own sword at the ready.

"Go!" Lance urged them forward. Keith swung the blade, matching it to Lotor's. The resounding noise was ear-splitting as the blades connected. Pidge raised the shield as Lotor swung again. Voltron was forced backward a step.

Lotor swung his sword again, this time blocked with Voltron's sword. They force sent them back another step.

Once more Lotor struck. Pidge yelled with the amount of force they were taking. "Aaaagghhh!" Voltron had no choice but to step backward once again.

Over and over again Lotor swung his sword, hitting blade and then shield, forcing Voltron back. Sword. Shield. Sword. Shield. Lotor was ruthless.

Sword. This time it was Keith's turn to yell. They would wear down at the rate things were going.

Shield. Voltron tried to dodge, but had to bring up the shield at the last moment.

Sword. This time Keith swung first. They couldn't keep getting forced back and expect to survive. Already they were too close to the base.

Lotor saw it coming, and sent his own sword to parry before quickly aiming for Voltron's face. Pidge raised the shield just in time, but they were forced back again.

"Aaaarrrgggh!" Lance yelled in his frustration. "We've got to move forward! Allura! Step in on Lotor's next attack. Brace yourselves!"

She moved Voltron's leg forward. When Lotor stuck again, it glanced off both Voltron's sword and shield together. They didn't lose any ground.

Quickly Voltron stabbed forward, slashing at Lotor before he could close the opening. The white lion took a step back.

"Hurry!" Lance yelled.

Voltron's heels fired up, sending them forward fast. Keith used the momentum to position the blade so that it would strike hard. There was no need to explain his plan in detail, the longer they fought as Voltron, the more they understood each other.

The strike stabbed the white lion in the gut, sending Lotor staggering backward.

They'd sent him too far though. They couldn't get close enough to strike again before Lotor had readied himself once more into a strong stance.

Voltron's next attacks were met blow for blow. Lotor didn't lose ground like they had. It didn't seem to matter how hard they hit.

"Again!" Lance yelled, grinding his teeth.

Keith slashed through the air and once again Lotor parried. The swords slid over each other with a noise like grinding lightning. It forced both of them to jump backward.

At a distance Lance readied Voltron to strike again. They shot forward just as Lotor did, striking yet another explosive blow.

The burst of energy cost Voltron. They were forced backward yet again, while Lotor only advanced. Once more, they did everything they could to block him, while Lotor gave no openings for them to take advantage of.

They switched up their tactics, stepping back twice, to gain the space they needed. It made no difference, Lotor's sword was longer, it could reach farther.

If they stepped to the right, Lotor would counter them, with a step to his right as well. If they stepped to the left, Lotor would take advantage of their shield arm and force them back even further with a harder hit.

They were pressed back, almost against the base's metal walls. There was nowhere to go. They needed ground, but they couldn't dodge Lotor's blows if it meant risking the base's walls and all those rebels within it.

Suddenly a ship to Voltron's right sent a blast at Lotor, taking them all by surprise. Lotor swatted it out of the air like it was a fly. It hadn't even given them enough of an opening. Lance felt for the rebel's sacrifice, it had been brave even though it had done nothing.

But then a crowd of small ships swarmed around them. Lance couldn't place where they had come from, but then, over the comms. "Don't forget about us!" Shiro's voice rang loud and clear.

He must have been able to free all of the prisoners and pulled out every single smaller vessel the prison ship had to make this army. So many of the ships buzzing around Lotor wouldn't even have guns installed. To the people who had been imprisoned by the Galra it made no difference. They would fight to the last breath if it meant they would be free again.

Lotor stumbled back. Lance was not about to take anyone's sacrifice in vain. None of Voltron was.

They slashed at Lotor, successfully forcing him back.

They slashed again. Lotor took another step back. Another slash, another step back. And another. And another.

Lotor was faced with the possibility of defeat. He took two steps back, but Voltron advanced. He tried stepping with his right and Voltron countered. He tried stepping left and Voltron forced him backward even farther than they had before. They were using his own attacks against him.

In the darkness of the White Lion none of the rebels fighting could see Lotor smile.

Lotor slashed wildly, leaving an opening. "Go!" Lance yelled as Keith swung the sword, piercing the white lion's armor.

Lotor turned the white lion around, yanking the blade from Keith's hand. Lotor ripped it out of the lion's armor, wielding the giant red sword for himself.

It had been a risky move and didn't leave Lotor with much time to finish the fight. He had already won though.

Lance's eyes widened in fear as Lotor had two blades and they had only a shield to protect them. He had made a mistake somehow and Voltron was going to suffer for it. Lotor slashed hard. The ships buzzed around them, trying to distract but offering little challenge.

Moving forward, Lotor hacked into Pidge's shield. They yelled again, struggling to keep up with the flurry of blows Lotor offered.

It took only a moment. Lotor sliced through the air at just the right angle. It pried the shield from Voltron's arm and sent it flying into the distance.

There was no hope.

Lance was shocked. Too stunned to do anything. Too stunned to even think. This was it.

"Lance!"

He heard Keith's yell as though it was from a distance. He saw Lotor's blades coming towards him as though in slow motion.

"Lance!" Keith yelled again.

It broke through to him, just enough to be able to see what was in Keith's mind. Lance shot himself forward, slamming his bayard into the black lion's controls just as Keith did the same in Red.

Voltron was bathed in light. It's arms stretched out as large wings grew from its back. Just as Lotor was about to hit, Voltron flew forward at incredible speed. They swatted at the sword with nothing but Voltron's hand, parrying the swords just barely.

Keith's arm grabbed at the white lion's throat, just as Pidge's wound back, ready to deliver the final blow.

Still as though in slow motion Lance watched as Pidge's arm came forward. But Lotor moved under them, unable to escape Keith's grasp he swung the sword, slicing toward himself, severing through Keith's arm.

"Nooo!" Lance yelled as Pidge's fist connected.

The world exploded. The white lion smashed into pieces as Voltron was thrown back, ripping through Keith's arm the rest of the way.

Voltron disassembled. Lance spun back, fighting the force of the explosion looking for Red. As soon as he spotted her he rammed Black forward, forcing her through the rubble.

Red was still an arm, mangled and barely recognizable. Black's teeth pulled at Red, forcing her toward the castle.

Seeing what had happened, Coran met them halfway, immediately opening the hangar doors.

Lance jumped from Black without a single thought to himself before she'd even touched down all the way.

He ran to red, climbing through the debris. A hunk of metal slashed as his side where his old wound had healed. It wasn't too deep, so he ignored it.

He pushed through the wires and hunks of metal wildly, slicing up his hands and arms and face in the process before finally making it through to Red's cockpit.

Keith was completely still in Red's seat. There was a significant amount of blood on Keith's side. It was pooling on the floor slowly.

"Keith!" Lance yelled, running to him.

He was unresponsive. Lance couldn't tell if he was breathing. He ripped off Keith's helmet, throwing it to the ground away from him.

Lance grabbed one of Keith's wrists to check his vitals as he studied his face closely for any sign of life. There was no movement in Keith's face. His head had rolled to the side and was still.

Lance took a deep breath to be able to focus. He placed two fingers on Keith's wrist, but he wouldn't be able to feel anything unless he calmed down for a minute. Keith didn't feel cold, but that didn't mean much.

Then he felt it, a faint ba-bump as Keith's heart pounded. It wasn't as strong as it should be, and the weakness frightened Lance, but it was there. Keith was alive.

He pulled Keith to his chest carefully, making sure not to jostle him too much. Keith didn't need to lose any more blood than he already had.

Once he was securely in his arms he took off at a sprint. The rest of the paladins watched Lance exit Red's hull and start to run down the hall. They followed as quickly as they could asking questions that Lance didn't know the answer to.

"Is he breathing?"

"How much blood did he lose?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" Lance let out a panicked yell.

He placed Keith gently on a table in the medbay, and got pushed out of the way almost immediately by Allura and Pidge.

Coran ran to the nearest medical pod and started getting it ready. Allura and Pidge started pulling out Altean medical tools. He watched, horrified as they checked the rest of Keith's vitals.

"His blood pressure's low."

"He's not breathing."

Suddenly Keith coughed, and blood came dribbling out of his mouth. Lance watched as Keith had an intake of breath, and then tried to sit up. Hunk's hands pulled him back down.

"Lance?" Keith asked. His voice was quiet and raspy.

"What? I'm here." Lance elbowed his way past the others so that Keith would be able to see his face.

"Hah….we match…" Keith poked Lance in the side where he'd gotten injured during his rescue.

It felt like so long ago that they'd been fighting Lotor together just the two of them. There wasn't anyone else Lance would rather have by his side.

Lance caught Keith's hand as he went to poke him again. "Just stay alive, okay?"

Hunk pulled Keith off the table and safely into the waiting pod. Lance allowed Keith's hand to be pulled out of his own as Coran pressed the button to close it.

Lance watched Keith's face change into a serene look as the pod started working. He didn't want to look away for fear of it changing to one of pain.

"And now we wait." Hunk said, placing his hands on either of Lance's shoulders.

* * *

 **A/N:** YEEESS! And then a huge resounding NOOOOOO!

Man this chapter took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. Although to be fair a whole lot happened in it...so…

There's way too many space battles in this fanfic, but I suppose if you've read up to now you probably like that at least a little. They are SO HARD TO WRITE THOUGH. Why did I do this to myself?

More than anything this chapter kept feeling like it wasn't quite right somehow, like I didn't leave quite enough tension before the kiss or like I was mischaracterizing people. But I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out in the end.

I want to post this chapter and the last chapter (which is short and mostly an epilogue) at the same time. I'm finished writing it, but I still have to edit, so it'll be up soon!

Love you all! Thank you so much for reading! Enjoy!


	22. Epilogue

Lance pulled Keith from the pod, before he could even try to take a step out himself.

"Are you okay?" He demanded, looking fiercely into Keith's eyes, trying to see the answer there.

"Are _you_ okay?" Keith asked more calmly, reaching his hand upward to touch one of the scratches on the side of Lance's face.

Lance caught Keith's hand in his. "I didn't want to go into a healing pod in case you woke up." He looked away, slightly embarrassed at his admission.

Keith used his free hand to gently turn Lance's face to look at him again. "The scratches look cool."

They breathed for a moment, doing nothing but staring into each other's eyes. Lance's hand reached out to move a piece of hair out of Keith's face.

As though Lance suddenly became aware of what he was doing he froze. A moment later he'd lightly set Keith's feet on the ground and untangled himself, moving ten feet away.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked, confused.

"I'm-sorry. I remembered what you said during the battle. That we'd talk about it...after. I-I didn't mean to-to kiss you before." He turned away, but Keith could see Lance's ears turn bright red.

"Yeah, exactly," Keith said, taking steps towards Lance, before spinning him around to face him. "The battle's over." He leaned in, sliding one hand behind Lance's neck and pulled him close.

Keith was gentle at first, being careful to start the kiss slowly. Their lips barely pressed together. Lance didn't pull away, but almost melted into Keith's palm instead. Keith took a gasping breath as he pulled Lance in closer, wrapping his other hand around Lance's back.

Lance grabbed at Keith. He didn't want to pull away even to breath. What was the point of breathing if it meant you had to be even an inch away from the person you loved. He'd suffocate for all he cared.

It was Keith who pulled his mouth away first, breathing hard, he whispered in Lance's ear. "I think I'm in love with you."

Lance opened his mouth, gasping for air. "You-what-but I thought-"

Keith looked into Lance's eyes. "What?"

"But you didn't kiss me back…" Lance said. At that Keith tilted his head, clearly confused. "...before."

Keith let out a single chuckle, trying his best not to roll his eyes. "You mean when Allura was blasting off all the sirens and opening a wormhole so that the rest of our teammates wouldn't die?"

"Uh...yes…"

Keith laughed again. It was a joyful sound. "I was surprised, you've been a dream of mine for so long. I would have kissed you back if you hadn't have pulled away, all of our friends be damned."

"But-"

"How many times do I have to tell you I love you before you'll just trust me?"

Lance was silent, drinking in the words this time. It was the second time Keith had said it, but he'd actually caught it this time. The words made him melt again. He leaned forward to Kiss Keith once more, but not before whispering quietly in his ear.

"I...I love you too."

* * *

 **A/N:** Okay, first of all: my internet crashed about 5 seconds after I posted that last chapter and I had to restart my computer, lmao!

Second of all: OMG IT'S DONE! FINALLY!

Let all the church bells ring and all that!

I'm so proud of myself for finishing this story. It was so much more difficult to finish this than I thought it would be. I only started it last November, but it feels like an entire lifetime ago. I guess 20 chapters in 11 months isn't too bad, but this was so much slower than I would have liked. This is the longest story I've ever written!

Anyway!

I have an idea for another Klance fic, but it's gonna be a lot shorter, more like a one-shot in length, and I'm gonna bust it out sometime this next month. So that's something to look forward too!

Also if you've been needing some satisfaction with Adam's existence I suggest reading my Adashi fic that I posted before s7 came out.

If you like my stuff you can follow me on my tumblr. Same name!

I occasionally post klance and other fandomy type stuff, but mostly it's just me being weird. If that interests you then be my guest and follow me!

Elsewise you can follow my insta thechargrey

Same name on twitter, but I don't tweet at all!

Keep being awesome my lovelies! I read all your comments and I can't tell you how many of them have made me laugh until my sides hurt! This is an amazing community!

BYEE! Until nextime!


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